All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the small space which I fill, or even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified, and wonder that I am here rather than there, for there is no reason why here rather than there, or now rather than then. Who has set me here? By whose order and design have this place and time been destined for me?—Memoria hospitis unius diei prætereuntis. It is not well to be too much at liberty. It is not well to have all we want. How many kingdoms know nothing of us! The eternal silence of these infinite spaces alarms me.
If the public thought elevates you above the generality of men, let the other humble you, and hold you in a perfect equality with all mankind, for this is your natural condition.
Do not mistake yourself by believing that your being has something in it more exalted than that of others.
To account nothing of one’s self, and to think always kindly and highly of others, this is great and perfect wisdom.