The virtue of a free man appears equally great in refusing to face difficulties as in overcoming them.
Baruch SpinozaThe safest way for a state is to lay down the rule that religion is comprised solely in the exercise of charity and justice, and that the rights of rulers in sacred, no less than in secular matters, should merely have to do with actions, but that every man should think what he likes and say what he thinks.
Baruch SpinozaMen will find that they can ... avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides by united action.
Baruch Spinoza