I say it is impossible that ...

I say it is impossible that so sensible a people [citizens of Paris], under such circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known that they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing.
I say it is impossible that so sensible a people [citizens of Paris], under such circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known that they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing.

Quotes from the same author

One today is worth two tomorrows.
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
Watch the little things; a small leak will sink a great ship.
Honesty is the best policy.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.