How Often Must I Repeat, That I

Whatever The World Thinks, He Who Hath Not Much Meditated Upon God, The Human Soul, And The Summum Bonum, May Possibly Make A Thriving Earthworm, But Will Most Indubitably Make A Sorry Patriot And A Sorry Statesman.

I Imagine That Thinking Is The Great Desideratum Of The Present Age; And The Cause Of Whatever Is Done Amiss May Justly Be Reckoned The General Neglect Of Education In Those Who Need It Most, The People Of Fashion. What Can Be Expected Where Those Who Have The Most Influence Have The Least Sense, And Those Who Are Sure To Be Followed Set The Worst Examples?

How Often Must I Repeat, That I Know Or Am Conscious Of My Own Being; And That I Myself Am Not My Ideas, But Somewhat Else, A Thinking, Active Principle That Perceives, Knows, Wills, And Operates About Ideas?

The Same Principles Which At First View Lead To Skepticism, Pursued To A Certain Point, Bring Men Back To Common Sense.

Whenever I Attempt To Frame A Simple Idea Of Time, Abstracted From The Succession Of Ideas In My Mind, Which Flows Uniformly, And Is Participated By All Beings, I Am Lost And Embrangled In Inextricable Difficulties.