[Believers] are but triflers who, when they cannot explain a thing, run back to the will of God; this is, truly, a ridiculous way of expressing ignorance.

A miracle signifies nothing more than an event... the cause of which cannot be explained by another familiar instance, or.... which the narrator is unable to explain.

In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.

Statesman are suspected of plotting against mankind, rather than consulting their interests, and are esteemed more crafty than learned.

In regard to intellect and true virtue, every nation is on a par with the rest, and God has not in these respects chosen one people rather than another.

I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.

Desire is the essence of a man.