"I perceived it was possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life; and that, instead of the speculative philosophy usually taught in the Schools, we might find a practical, by means of which, k…"

"The light of natural reason is not less certain than that of revelation."

"I found myself constrained to believe that there are certain principles which the human mind spontaneously accepts as true."

"I have always taken the greatest pleasure in seeking out and acquiring knowledge."

"I am a thinking thing, that is to say a mind, or a soul, or an understanding, or a reason."