One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it

Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.

One must be oneself very little of a philosopher not to feel that the finest privilege of our reason consists in not believing in anything by the impulsion of a blind and mechanical instinct, and that it is to dishonour reason to put it in bonds as the Chaldeans did. Man is born to think for himself.

To describe women, the pen should be dipped in the humid colors of the rainbow, and the paper dried with the dust gathered from the wings of a butterfly.

Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.

There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself.

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.