George Berkeley

"Truth is the cry of all, but the game of the few."

"That we have first raisd a Dust, and then complain, we cannot see."

"That there is no such thing as what philosophers call material substance, I am seriously persuaded: but if I were made to see any thing absurd or skeptical in this, I should then have the same reason to renounce this, that I imagine I have now to reject the contrary opinion."

"Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day: Times noblest offspring is the last."

"In the pursuit of truth we must beware of being misled by terms which we do not rightly understand. That is the chief point. Almost all philosophers utter the caution; few observe it."

"For no ones authority ought to rank so high as to set a value on his words and terms even though nothing clear and determinate lies behind them."

"Doth the reality of sensible things consist in being perceived? or, is it something distinct from their being perceived, and that bears no relation to the mind?"

"Few men think; yet all have opinions."

"We stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeleys ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus!"

"When Bishop Berkeley said there was no matter, And proved it—twas no matter what he said."

"There once was a man who said, God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When theres no one about in the Quad.Reply: Dear Sir, Your astonishments odd; I am always about in the Quad; And thats why the tree Will continue to be, Since observed by Yours faithfully, God.-->"

"Abstract terms (however useful they may be in argument) should be discarded in meditation, and the mind should be fixed on the particular and the concrete, that is, on the things themselves."