The enjoyment of freedom which could be exercised without any motivation would be the real hallmark of a maniac.

I like better for one to say some foolish thing upon important matters than to be silent. That becomes the subject of discussion and dispute, and the truth is discovered.

Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.

Scepticism is the first step towards truth.

When shall we see poets born? After a time of disasters and great misfortunes, when harrowed nations begin to breathe again. And then, shaken by the terror of such spectacles, imaginations will paint things entirely strange to those who have not witnessed them.

If your little savage were left to himself and be allowed to retain all his ignorance, he would in time join the infant's reasoning to the grown man's passion, he would strangle his father and sleep with his mother.

The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre