I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.

My ideas are my whores.

My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.

I feel, I think, I judge; therefore, a part of organized matter like me is capable of feeling, thinking, and judging.

If there were a reason for preferring the Christian religion to natural religion, it would be because the former offers us, on the nature of God and man, enlightenment that the latter lacks. Now, this is not at all the case; for Christianity, instead of clarifying, gives rise to an infinite multitude of obscurities and difficulties.

First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.