We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal fire of hell.

We hate the very idea that our own ideas may be mistaken, so we cling dogmatically to our conjectures.

No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it

Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell.

You cannot have a rational discussion with a man who prefers shooting you to being convinced by you.

Science is the century-old endeavour to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into as thorough-going an association as possible. To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization. Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgements of all kinds remain necessary.

The future is always present, as a promise, a lure and a temptation.