Men have been obliged to make for themselves a notion of what religion is, long before the science of religions started its methodical comparisons.

The Christian conceives of his abode on Earth in no more delightful colors than the Jainist sectarian. He sees in it only a time of sad trial; he also thinks that his true country is not of this world.

Faith is not uprooted by dialectic proof; it must already be deeply shaken by other causes to be unable to withstand the shock of argument.

We do not condemn it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we condemn it.

Men have been obliged to make for themselves a notion of what religion is, long before the science of religions started its methodical comparisons.

Although our moral conscience is a part of our consciousness, we do not feel ourselves on an equality with it. In this voice which makes itself heard only to give us orders and establish prohibitions, we cannot recognize our own voices; the very tone in which it speaks to us warns us that it expresses something within us that is not of ourselves.

Too cheerful a morality is a loose morality; it is appropriate only to decadent peoples and is found only among them.