Date: 1773

"Yet there is a wide distinction between the confidence which becomes a man, and the simplicity that disgraces a simpleton: he who never trusts is a niggard of his soul, who starves himself, and by whom no other is enriched; but he who gives every one his confidence, and every one his praise, squ...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"The way we tread is rugged at best; we tread it, however, lighter by the prospect of that better country to which we trust it will lead; tell us not that it will end in the gulph of eternal dissolution, or break off in some wild, which fancy may fill up as she pleases, but reason is unable to de...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"The two great movements of the soul, which the molder of our frames has placed in them for the incitement of virtue and the prevention of vice, are the desire of honour, and the fear of shame: but the perversion of these qualities, which the refinement of society is peculiarly unhappy in making,...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"It is not by the roar of riot, or the shout of the bacchanal, that we are to measure the degree of pleasure which he feels; the grossness of the sense he gratifies is equally insusceptible of the enjoyment, as it is deaf to the voice of reason; and, obdurated by the repetition of debauch, is inc...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"They who are really skilful in the principles of science, will acquire the veneration only of shallow minds by talking scientifically; for, to simplify expression, is always the effect of the deepest knowlege, and of the clearest discernment. On the other hand, there may be many who possess tast...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"Even the ceremonial of the world, shallow as it may appear, is not without its use; it may indeed take from the warmth of friendship, but it covers the coldness of indifference; and if it has repressed the genuine overflowings of kindness, it has smothered the turbulence of passion and animosity."

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"The punctilio's indeed on which he depends, for his own peace, and the peace of society, are so ridiculous in the eye of reason, that it is not a little surprising, how so many millions of reasonable beings should have sanctified them with their mutual consent and acquiescence; that they should ...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"There is another at hand, which the substitution of this phantom too often destroys--it is Conscience--whose voice, were it not stifled (sometimes by this very false and spurious Honour ) would lead directly to that liberal construction of the rules of morality which is here contended for."

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"But his temper was not altogether of that fiery kind, which some young men, so circumstanced, and so educated, are possessed of."

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1773

"He shut his mind against the suggestions of any further suspicion, and, with that winking cowardice, which many mistake for resolution, was resolved to trust him for his friend, whom it would have hurt him to consider as an enemy."

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)