Yaratılan her şey bu bağlamda bir gizemse, bu kelime karanlığın aydınlığın yerine kullanılamayacağı gibi ahlaki gerçek yerine kullanılamaz. İnandığımız Tanrı, karanlığın ya da gizemin değil gerçeğin Tanrı'sıdır. Gizem gerçeğin karşıtıdır. Gizem, gerçeği karanlığa iten, onu bozan, insanın yarattığı bir sistir. Gerçek hiçbir zaman gizemle sarmalanamaz; eğer sarmalanırsa bu gerçeğin değil karşıtının suçudur.

As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; for as certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish it. The pride of having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at last he beholds with satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the accomplishment or the failure of his predictions.

It frequently happens that in proportion as we are taught to dislike persons and countries, not knowing why, we feel an ardor of esteem upon the removal of the mistake: it seems as if something was to be made amends for, and we eagerly give in to every office of friendship, to atone for the injury of the error. But, perhaps, there is something in the extent of countries, which, among the generality of people, insensibly communicates extension of the mind. The soul of an islander, in its native state, seems bounded by the foggy confines of the water's edge, and all beyond affords to him matters only for profit or curiosity, not for friendship. His island is to him his world, and fixed to that, his everything centers in it; while those who are inhabitants of a continent, by casting their eye over a larger field, take in likewise a larger intellectual circuit, and thus approaching nearer to an acquaintance with the universe, their atmosphere of thought is extended, and their liberality fills a wider space. In short, our minds seem to be measured by countries when we are men, as they are by places when we are children, and until something happens to disentangle us from the prejudice, we serve under it without perceiving it.