Jaime Luciano Balmes

Even good feelings, if excessively exalted, are capable of leading us to deplorable errors.

A lazy man is a clock without a spring.

I convinced myself that to doubt everything is to lack the most precise of human reasoning, which is common sense.

Firm will is not the same as energetic will, much less impetuous will.

The act of reading is like food; the benefit is not in proportion to what is consumed, but to what is digested.

Woe to the people governed by a Power that must think of its own preservation!

Reason is a monarch condemned to continually struggle with the rebellious passions.

Terrible is the error when it usurps the name of science.

One should read a lot, but not many books; this is an excellent rule.

He who does not tolerate intolerance is not tolerant.

Only intelligence examines itself.

Labor is a natural title to the property of the fruits of it, and legislation that does not respect that principle is inherently unjust.