Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism to all the self preservative instincts of sound life; it has corrupted even the faculties of those natures that are intellectually most vigorous, by representing the highest intellectual values as sinful, as misleading, as full of temptation.

The first opinion that occurs to us when we are suddenly asked about something is usually not our own but only the current one pertaining to our class, position, or parentage; our own opinions seldom swim on the surface.

Some people appear to be more meager in talent than they are, just because the tasks they set themselves are always too great.

To be natural means to dare to be as immoral as Nature is.

One should not go into churches if one wants to breathe pure air.

Vanity is the fear of appearing original: it is thus a lack of pride, but not necessarily a lack of originality.

The less men are fettered by tradition, the greater becomes the inward activity of their motives, and greater again in proportion to their outer restlessness.