The magnitude of a progress is gauged by the greatness of the sacrifice that it requires.

Modern science has as its object as little pain as possible, as long a life as possible - hence a sort of eternal blessedness, but of a very limited kind in comparison with the promises of religion.

A man who whinnies with noisy laughter, surpasses all the animals in vulgarity.

There is a great ladder of religious cruelty, and, of its many rungs, three are the most important. People used to make human sacrifices to their god, perhaps even sacrificing those they loved the best ... Then, during the moral epoch of humanity, people sacrificed the strongest instincts they had, their 'nature,' to their god... Finally: what was left to be sacrificed? ... Didn't people have to sacrifice God himself and worship rocks, stupidity, gravity, fate, or nothingness out of sheer cruelty to themselves?

When we have a great goal we are superior even to justice, not merely to our deeds and our judges.

What do you believe in?--In this, that the weights of all things must be determined anew.

The humanity of famous intellectuals lies in being wrong with gracious courtesy when dealing with those who are not famous.