William Jones Quotes

The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity is of wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either.

Live as if you already are what you wish to become.

Never neglect an opportunity for improvement.

I am no Hindu, but I hold the doctrine of the Hindus concerning a future state (rebirth) to be incomparably more rational, more pious, and more likely to deter men from vice than the horrid opinions inculcated by Christians on punishments without end.

The Bible is the light of my understanding, the joy of my heart, the fullness of my hope, the clarified of my affections, the mirror of my thoughts, the consoler of my sorrows, the guide of my soul through this gloomy labyrinth of time, the telescope went from heaven to reveal to the eye of man the amazing glories of the far distant world.

Cruelty to dumb animals is one of the distinguishing vices of low and base minds. Wherever it is found, it is a certain mark of ignorance and meanness; a mark which all the external advantages of wealth, splendour, and nobility, cannot obliterate. It is consistent neither with learning nor true civility.

My opinion is, that power should always be distrusted, in whatever hands it is placed.

In the whisper of the leaves appears an interchange of love.

Wherever we direct our attention to Hindu literature the notion of infinity presents itself.

An experiment in nature, like a text in the Bible, is capable of different interpretations, according to the preconceptions of the interpreter.

Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven.

Of all the things that it is possible to donate, to donate your own body is infinitely more worthwhile.

I have carefully and regularly perused the Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that the volume contains more sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may have been written.

[I]n every part of this eastern world, from Pekin to Damascus, the popular teachers of moral wisdom have immemorially been poets.

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,Whose accents flow with artless ease,Like orient pearls at random strung.

The only road to the highest stations in this country is that of the law.