We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.

We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in this esteem.

It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incomprehensible that he should not exist.

There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.

If god does not exist, one loses nothing by believing in him anyway, while if he does exist, one stands to lose everything by not believing.

When a man who accepts the Christian doctrine lives unworthily of it, it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian.

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.