The efficacy of religion lies precisely in what is not rational, philosophic, nor eternal; its efficacy lies in the unforeseen, the miraculous, the extraordinary. Thus religion attracts more devotion according as it demands more faith - that is to say, as it becomes more incredible to the profane mind.

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.

Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion.

Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind, and therefore independence of all social, political or religious prejudice... It loves one thing only... truth.

There is an illusion of central position, justifying one's own purposes as right and everybody else¹s as wrong, and providing a proper degree of paranoia. Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.

[T]he habit of scientific analysis ... exhausts the material offered to it.