Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.

What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.

Gentleness and peacefulness regulate our proceedings; theirs are dictated by fury. We employ reason, they accumulate faggots. They preach nothing but love, and breathe nothing but blood. Their words are humane, but their hearts are cruel.

Passions destroy more prejudices than philosophy does.

What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.

In general, children, like men, and men, like children, prefer entertainment to education.

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.