The System of Nature: Or, The Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Tr. from the French of M. Mirabaud ...W. Hodgson, 1795 - Materialism |
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able actions advantages arreſt aſſiſtance aſſociates becauſe body cauſes ceaſe chimeras conferve conſent conſequence courſe crimes death defire deſpair deſpite doctrine effects eſteem evil exerciſe exiſtence faid falſe fame fatisfying fear feel felicity firſt fome foon foul frequently fubjects fubmitted fuffer fuitable greater number happineſs happy heart himſelf human ſpecies ideas imagination impulfions inſtant inſtitutions intereſt itſelf labour laws leſs maſter miferable mode morals moſt motive-powers motives muſt Nature neceffary neceffity neceſſarily neceſſary never objects obliged obſtacles ourſelves paffions pain paſſions peculiar perfuaded phyſical pleaſing pleaſure prejudices preſent procure promiſes punishments reaſon refult religion remorſe render reſtrain rience ſame ſay ſee ſeek ſelves ſenſation ſenſes ſenſible ſentiments ſhall ſhe ſhew ſhewn ſhort ſhould ſociety ſome Soul ſource ſpring ſtate ſubſiſt ſuch ſufficiently ſuppoſe ſyſtem temperament themſelves theſe thing thoſe thou tion true univerſe uſe uſeleſs virtue wants whoſe wicked
Popular passages
Page 316 - THIS BOOK. FORMS PART OF THE ORIGINAL LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BOUGHT IN EUROPE 1838 TO 1839 BY ASA CRAY a, >^ ^f-, LITERARY REMAINS OF TUB LATE WILLIAM HAZLITT.
Page 406 - ... alternative of famishing in a land of plenty, has obliged to become criminal? It is thus that in a great number of civilized nations, the life of the citizen is placed in the same scales with money; that the unhappy wretch who is perishing from hunger, who is writhing under the most abject misery, is put to death for having taken a pitiful portion of the superfluity of another whom he beholds rolling in abundance! It is this that, in many otherwise very enlightened societies, is called justice,...
Page 500 - the hour of death approaches; but do not aggravate your evil, nor render things worse than they are: represent them to yourself under their true point of view. The time is come when the materials of which you are composed, go to resolve themselves into the elements from whence they were originally borrowed. What is there that is terrible or grievous in that? Is there any thing in the world that perishes totally?
Page 499 - ... you are derived. That which in your composition, is of the nature of fire, will return to the element of fire; that which is of the nature of earth, will rejoin itself to the earth; that which is air, will re-unite itself with air; that which is water, will resolve itself into water; there is no Hell, no Acheron, no Cocytus, no Phlegethon.
Page 403 - ... badly organized; against whom society has the right to guarantee itself; against whom it has a right to take measures for its own security. Madness is, without doubt, an involuntary, a necessary state; nevertheless, no one feels it unjust to deprive the insane of their liberty, although their actions can only be imputed to the derangement of their brain. The wicked are men whose brain is either constantly or transitorily disturbed; still they must he punished by reason of the evil they commit;...
Page 454 - An organized being may be compared to a clock, which once broken, is no longer suitable to the use for which it was designed. To say, that the soul shall feel, shall think, shall enjoy, shall suffer after the death of the body; is to pretend that a clock, shivered into a thousand pieces, will continue to strike the hour; shall yet have the faculty of marking the progress of time.
Page 486 - ... the public tranquillity, every time there was a question of the supposed interests of the invisible monarch of another life, and the real interests of his ministers in this. Such is the fruit that politics has gathered from the doctrine of a future life; the regions of the world to come have enabled the priesthood to conquer the present world. The expectation of celestial happiness, and the dread of future tortures, only served to prevent man from seeking after the means to render himself happy...
Page 413 - ... whom his actions have any influence: if these actions are concealed at the moment of commission, he knows it very rarely happens they remain so for ever. The smallest reflection convinces him that there is no wicked man who is not ashamed of his own conduct — who is truly contented with himself — who does not envy the condition of the good man — who is not obliged to acknowledge that he has paid very dearly for those advantages he is never able to enjoy, without...
Page 567 - ... upon the first; he seeks to diversify them; he is willing to give them fresh zest; arrived at opulence, when he has run over the whole circle of wants, when he has completely exhausted their combinations, he falls into disgust. Dispensed from labour, his body amasses humours; destitute of desires, his heart feels a languor; deprived of activity, he is obliged to participate his riches, with beings more active, more laborious than himself: these, following their own peculiar interests, take upon...
Page 355 - I not seen my fellow citizens envy them, the nobles of my country sacrifice every thing to obtain them? In the society in which I live, am I not obliged to feel, that if I am deprived of these advantages, I must expect to languish in contempt; to cringe under the rod of oppression? The miser says: you forbid me to love money, to seek after the means of acquiring it: alas! does not every thing tell me that, in this world, money is the greatest blessing; that it is amply sufficient to...