Poets Themselves, Tho' Liars By

And What Is The Greatest Number? Number One.

..when, In My Philosophical Disquisitions, I Deny A Providence And A Future State, I Undermine Not The Foundations Of Society, But Advance Principles, Which They Themselves, Upon Their Own Topics, If They Argue Consistently, Must Allow To Be Solid And Satisfactory.

What Would Become Of History, Had We Not A Dependence On The Veracity Of The Historian, According To The Experience, What We Have Had Of Mankind?

Were A Man, Whom I Know To Be Honest And Opulent, And With Whom I Live In Intimate Friendship, To Come Into My House, Where I Am Surrounded With My Servants, I Rest Assured, That He Is Not To Stab Me Before He Leaves It, In Order To Rob Me Of My Silver Standish; And I No More Suspect This Event, Than The Falling Of The House Itself Which Is New, And Solidly Built And Founded.--but He May Have Been Seized With A Sudden And Unknown Frenzy.--so May A Sudden Earthquake Arise, And Shake And Tumble My House About My Ears.

The Advantages Found In History Seem To Be Of Three Kinds, As It Amuses The Fancy, As It Improves The Understanding, And As It Strengthens Virtue.