The first effect of emancipation from the Church was not to make men think rationally, but to open their minds to every sort of antique nonsense

Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own.

[Regarding] the convention that clergymen are more virtuous than other men. Any average selection of mankind, set apart and told that it excels the rest in virtue, must tend to sink below the average.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

A man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if indeed such a man exists.

This is one of those views which are so absolutely absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them.

We love our habits more than our income, often more than our life.