[Christianity] neither enjoins the nastiness of the Cynic, nor the insensibility of the Stoic.

But, say you, surely there is nothing easier than for me to imagine trees, for instance, in a park [. . .] and nobody by to perceive them. [...] The objects of sense exist only when they are perceived; the trees therefore are in the garden [. . .] no longer than while there is somebody by to perceive them.

A ray of imagination or of wisdom may enlighten the universe, and glow into remotest centuries.

Of all men living [priests] are our greatest enemies. If it were possible, they would extinguish the very light of nature, turn the world into a dungeon, and keep mankind for ever in chains and darkness.

Whatever the world thinks, he who hath not much meditated upon God, the human soul, and the summum bonum, may possibly make a thriving earthworm, but will most indubitably make a sorry patriot and a sorry statesman.

Where the people are well educated, the art of piloting a state is best learned from the writings of Plato.

He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave.