Each religion, by the help of more or less myth, which it takes more or less seriously, proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.

Manhood and sagacity ripen of themselves; it suffices not to repress or distort them.

Animals are born and bred in litters. Solitude grows blessed and peaceful only in old age.

It would hardly be possible to exaggerate man's wretchedness if it were not so easy to overestimate his sensibility

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.

Logic, like language, is partly a free construction and partly a means of symbolizing and harnessing in expression the existing diversities of things; and whilst some languages, given a man's constitution and habits, may seem more beautiful and convenient to him than others, it is a foolish heat in a patriot to insist that only his native language is intelligible or right.

The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.