Interest Is The Barometer Of The State.

Such A Superiority Do The Pursuits Of Literature Possess Above Every Other Occupation, That Even He Who Attains But A Mediocrity In Them, Merits The Pre-eminence Above Those That Excel The Most In The Common And Vulgar Professions.

If Morality Had Naturally No Influence On Human Passions And Actions, It Were In Vain To Take Such Pains To Inculcate It; And Nothing Would Be More Fruitless Than That Multitude Of Rules And Precepts With Which All Moralists Abound.

Let Us Consider What We Call Vicious Luxury. No Gratification, However Sensual, Can Of Itself Be Esteemed Vicious. A Gratification Is Only Vicious When It Engrosses All A Man's Expense, And Leaves No Ability For Such Acts Of Duty And Generosity As Are Required By His Situation And Fortune. The Same Care And Toil That Raise A Dish Of Peas At Christmas Would Give Bread To A Whole Family During Six Months.

It Seems Then, Say I, That You Leave Politics Entirely Out Of The Question, And Never Suppose, That A Wise Magistrate Can Justly Be Jealous Of Certain Tenets Of Philosophy, Such As Those Of Epicurus, Which, Denying A Divine Existence, And Consequently A Providence And A Future State, Seem To Loosen, In A Great Measure, The Ties Of Morality, And May Be Supposed, For That Reason, Pernicious To The Peace Of Civil Society.

We Make Allowance For A Certain Degree Of Selfishness In Men; Because We Know It To Be Inseparable From Human Nature, And Inherent In Our Frame And Constitution. By This Reflexion We Correct Those Sentiments Of Blame, Which So Naturally Arise Upon Any Opposition.