I did not bring Deism into Bavaria more than into Rome. I found it here, in great vigour, more abounding than in any of the neighboring Protestant States. I am proud to be known to the world as the founder of the Illuminati.

The hankering of the mind is irresistible.

When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished.

Illuminate the opposition.

In another situation, and in an active station in life, I should have been keenly occupied, and the founding of an order would have never come into my head.

The head of every family will be what Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest and the unlettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the code of laws to all mankind.

It was the full conviction of this, and of what could be done, if every man were placed in the office for which he was fitted by nature and a proper education, which first suggested to me the plan of Illumination.