If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner...if I let it slip from my tongue, I am ITS prisoner.

The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.

That which knows all things and is known by none is the subject.

To desire immortality for the individual is really the same as wanting to perpetuate an error forever.

Consider the Koran... this wretched book was sufficient to start a world-religion, to satisfy the metaphysical need of countless millions for twelve hundred years, to become the basis of their morality and of a remarkable contempt for death, and also to inspire them to bloody wars and the most extensive conquests. In this book we find the saddest and poorest form of theism. Much may be lost in translation, but I have not been able to discover in it one single idea of value.

As a general rule, the longer a man's fame is likely to last, the later it will be in coming; for all excellent products require time for their development.

Still, instead of trusting what their own minds tell them, men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to supernatural sources of knowledge.