Posterity

That which our time tramples on, posterity will pick up, and that which is now called boldness will be honoured in the name of truth.

For What Reason do so Many Swedes Emigrate Every Year?, 1765.

Predecessor

A new guide is now put before the eyes of the Reader. It is quite a small one, so that everyone may be able to carry it in his pocket. It is new as well, I said, for it hardly conforms to any other in Europe. And I think it is reliable, too, for I have attempted to found it upon reason and experience.

The National Gain, 1765.

The dominance of prejudice

Ever since childhood I have regarded the tyranny of Prejudice as the most repulsive, but nothing governs the world more.

The Shepherd's Song, 1766.

Simplicity

If I am found at fault for my simplicity, so be it; it is in that very thing I have sought my virtue.

Assisting the Kingdom through a Natural Monetary System, 1766.

Modesty

No Swedish genius could have imagined that he would ever be so well-known in his Fatherland as an author than me. My modest insight, my quiet and frugal way of life, yes, indeed I should honestly admit from my heart which is completely turned away from the great wide world and which have decided that I should study my own evil heart in some remote corner of the world, and in my work provide advantage to the herd granted to me by Heaven, my honest disdain of flattering praise, which has placed me far from the thought of ever writing anything for the public, or taking up any important post other than the modest position I initially had.

But the paths of Fate have been unworthy towards me in a way that I could not have imagined.

Autobiography, 1780.