29 quotes
[I]magination is the soul, since it plays all the roles of the soul.
Man a Machine (1747)
If one's organism is... the preeminent advantage, and the source of all others, education is the second. The best made brain would be a total loss without it...
Man a Machine (1747)
[T]hought is so little incompatible with organized matter, that it seems to be one of its properties on a par with electricity, the faculty of motion, impenetrability, extentension, etc.
Man a Machine (1747)
Whatever the virtue may be, from whatever source it may come, it is worthy of esteem... Mind, beauty, wealth, nobility, although the children of chance, all have their own value, as skill, learning and virtue have theirs.
Man a Machine (1747)
[H]e who has the most imagination should be regarded as having the most intelligence or genius, for all these words are synonymous...
Man a Machine (1747)
[T]he sciences that are expressed by numbers or by other small signs, are easily learned; and... this facility rather than its demonstrability is what has made the fortune of algebra.
Man a Machine (1747)
Let us... take in our hands the staff of experience... To be blind and to think that one can do without this staff is the worst kind of blindness.
Man a Machine (1747)
[W]hy should we divide the sensitive principle which thinks in man? ...For a thing that is divided can no longer without absurdity be regarded as indivisible.
Man a Machine (1747)
[T]his man who is devoured by jealousy, hatred, avarice, or ambition, can never find any rest. The most peaceful spot, the freshest and most calming drinks are alike useless to one who has not freed his heart from the torment of passion.
Man a Machine (1747)