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For if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. Once begin [sic] upon this downward path, you never know where you are to stop. Many a man has dated his ruin from some murder or other that perhaps he thought little of at the time.

— Thomas De Quincey A Second Paper on Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts (1839)

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More quotes by Thomas De Quincey

Solitude, though silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone.

In many walks of life, a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance than a wife or a carriage.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822)

It is notorious that the memory strengthens as you lay burdens upon it, and becomes trustworthy as you trust it.

The laughter of girls is, and ever was, among the delightful sounds of earth.

Coleridge and Opium-Eating (1845)

Dyspepsy is the ruin of most things: empires, expeditions, and everything else.

Letter to Hessey (1823)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas De Quincey (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.