I cannot tell and I shall never know how many words of mine might have given birth to cruelty in place of love and kindness and charity.

Religion is based on the insistence that over and above all is a purpose and a guiding hand that is beneficent and kind, and would not leave a hair unnumbered or let a sparrow fall unnoticed to the ground. Those who cherish such hallucinations forget that the all-loving power is inflicting tuberculosis, cancer, famine, and pestilence on the trusting, simple sons of men.

Everybody is a potential murderer. I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.

Eugene V. Debs has always been one of my heroes.

In order to have enough freedom, it is necessary to have too much.

The Constitution is a delusion and a snare if the weakest and humblest man in the land cannot be defended in his right to speak and his right to think as much as the strongest in the land.

It’s not bad people I fear so much as good people. When a person is sure that he is good, he is nearly hopeless; he gets cruel- he believes in punishment.