People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it.

Man is a pliable animal, a being who gets accustomed to everything!

Beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity.

Faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from the faith.

Realists do not fear the results of their study.

If there were no God, he would have to be invented.

In a way there's only a fine shade of difference between the healthy and the deranged.