The Christian religion teaches me two points-that there is a God whom men can know, and that their nature is so corrupt that they are unworthy of Him.

It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own reason, and not of others, that should make you believe.

By a peculiar prerogative, not only each individual is making daily advances in the sciences, and may make advances in morality (which is the science, by way of eminence, of living well and being happy), but all mankind together is making a continual progress in proportion as the universe grows older. So that the whole human race, during the course of so many ages, may be considered as one man who never ceases to live and learn.

Christian piety annihilates the egoism of the heart; worldly politeness veils and represses it.

Symmetry is what we see at a glance; based on the fact that there is no reason for any difference.

Let us now speak according to natural lights. If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible. . . . We are then incapable of knowing of either what He is or if He is. . . .

The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.