If there were gods, how could I endure not to be a god? Therefore there are no gods.

That which needs to be proved cannot be worth much.

We talk about taking "pleasure in a thing": but in truth it is pleasure in ourselves, mediated by a thing.

You may lie with your mouth, but with the mouth you make as you do so you none the less tell the truth.

The strongest knowledge (that of the total freedom of the human will) is nonetheless the poorest in successes: for it always has the strongest opponent, human vanity.

Every tradition grows continually more venerable, and the more remote its origins, the more this is lost sight of. The veneration paid the tradition accumulates from generation to generation, until it at last becomes holy and excites awe.

I conjure you, my brethren, to remain faithful to earth, and do not believe those who speak unto you of super terrestrial hopes! Poisoners they are, whether they know it or not.