We should like to have some towering geniuses, to reveal us to ourselves in color and fire. Joseph Priestley More Quotes by Joseph Priestley More Quotes From Joseph Priestley To me there is in happiness an element of self-forgetfulness. You lose yourself in something outside yourself when you are happy; just as when you are desperately miserable you are intensely conscious of yourself, are a solid little lump of ego weighing a ton. Joseph Priestley selfjusticehappiness It is no use speaking in soft, gentle tones if everyone else is shouting. Joseph Priestley squashcommunicationuse The wisdom of one generation will be folly in the next. Joseph Priestley nextgenerationswisdom I have procured air [oxygen] ... between five and six times as good as the best common air that I have ever met with. Joseph Priestley oxygenairscience The feeling of it to my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air; but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Who can tell but that, in time, this pure air may become a fashionable article in luxury. Hitherto only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing it. Joseph Priestley lightairscience The more elaborate our means of our common sense is, the less the common sense it becomes. Joseph Priestley common-sensecommonmean In completing one discovery we never fail to get an imperfect knowledge of others of which we could have no idea before, so that we cannot solve one doubt without creating several new ones. Joseph Priestley discoveryideasknowledge How glorious, then, is the prospect, the reverse of all the past, which is now opening upon us, and upon the world. Government, we may now expect to see, not only in theory and in books but in actual practice, calculated for the general good, and taking no more upon it than the general good requires, leaving all men the enjoyment of as many of their natural rights as possible, and no more interfering with matters of religion, with men's notions concerning God, and a future state, than with philosophy, or medicine. Joseph Priestley philosophybookpast The greater part of critics are parasites, who, if nothing had been written, would find nothing to write. Joseph Priestley parasitescriticswriting When we say there is a GOD, we mean that there is an intelligent designing cause of what we see in the world around us, and a being who was himself uncaused. Joseph Priestley designintelligentmean Let us not... contend about merit , but let us all be intent on forwarding the common enterprize , and equally enjoy any progress we may make towards succeeding in it; and above all, let us acknowledge the guidance of that Great Being, who has put a spirit in man, and whose inspiration giveth him understanding . Joseph Priestley understandinginspirationmen It pleased God to make one nation the medium of all His communications with mankind: This the nation of the Jews has done to a considerable degree in all ages As civilization extended, they by one means or another became most wonderfully dispersed through all countries; and at this day they are almost literally everywhere, the most conspicuous, and in the eye of reason and religion, the most respectable nation on the face of the earth. Joseph Priestley communicationmeancountry In completing one discovery we never fail to get an imperfect knowledge of others. Joseph Priestley discoveryscienceknowledge It is sufficiently evident from many circumstances, that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ did not establish itself without much opposition, especially from the unlearned among the Christians, who thought that it savoured of Polytheism , that it was introduced by those who had had a philosophical education, and was by degrees adopted by others, on account of its covering the great offence of the cross , by exalting the personal dignity of our Saviour. Joseph Priestley divinityphilosophicalchristian The greater is the circle of light, the greater is the boundary of the darkness by which it is confined. But, notwithstanding this, the more light get, the more thankful we ought to be, for by this means we have the greater range for satisfactory contemplation. time the bounds of light will be still farther extended; and from the infinity of the divine nature, and the divine works, we may promise ourselves an endless progress in our investigation them: a prospect truly sublime and glorious. Joseph Priestley naturesciencemean The mind of man can never be wholly barren. Through our whole lives we are subject to successive impressions; for, either new ideas are continually flowing in, or traces of the old ones are marked deeper. If, therefore, you be not acquiring good principles be assured that you are acquiring bad ones; if you be not forming virtuous habits you are, how insensibly soever to yourselves, forming vicious ones. Joseph Priestley mindmenideas But it is not given to every electrician to die in so glorious a manner as the justly envied Richmann. Joseph Priestley lightningenvyscience Could we have entered into the mind of Sir Isaac Newton, and have traced all the steps by which he produced his great works, we might see nothing very extraordinary in the process. Joseph Priestley mindstepsmight Every man, when he comes to be sensible of his natural rights, and to feel his own importance, will consider himself as fully equal to any other person whatever Joseph Priestley rightsnaturalmen Too many christians have been chargeable with... confounding the Logos of Plato with that of John , and making of it a second person in the trinity, than which no two things can be more different. Joseph Priestley platochristiantwo
