War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.
Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.
But the general welfare must restrict and regulate the exertions of the individuals as the individuals must derive a supply of their strength from social power.
The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions but by his habitual acts.
The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind but an active exertion of the inward strength vigor and power of the mind displaying itself from within.
Many possessions if they do not make a man better are at least expected to make his children happier and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.
It is bad policy to regulate everything... where things may better regulate themselves and can be better promoted by private exertions but it is no less bad policy to let those things alone which can only be promoted by interfering social power.
I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise than he was 6000 years ago.
But my most favourite pursuit after my daily exertions at the Foundry was Astronomy. There were frequently clear nights when the glorious objects in the Heavens were seen in most attractive beauty and brilliancy.