“The dull mind, once arriving at an inference that flatters the desire, is rarely able to retain the impression that the notion from which the inference started was purely problematic.”

“And mental states may be inferred from actions. The tyrant rarely sends a handwritten note requesting the elimination of an enemy.”

“Thought is what we start from: the simple, intimate, immediate datum. Matter is the inferred thing, the mystery.”

“Logic was, formerly, the art of drawing inferences; it has now become the art of abstaining from inferences, since it has appeared that the inferences we feel naturally inclined to make are hardly ever valid.”

“We cannot infer from prosperity that God is pleased with us, nor can we infer from adversity that he is displeased with us.”

“Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person's notions and feelings may confidently be inferred from those which prevail in the circle by which the person is surrounded. Not so with those whose opinions and feelings are an emanation from their own nature and faculties.”