Reason and happiness are like other flowers; they wither when plucked.

Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

Popular poets are the parish priests of the Muse, retailing her ancient divinations to a long since converted public.

Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.

It is pathetic to observe how lowly the motives are that religion, even the highest, attributes to the deity... To be given the best morsel, to be remembered, to be praised, to be obeyed blindly and punctiliously - these have been thought points of honor with the gods.

Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.

Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a mere peephole through which glimpses come down to us of eternal things.