Epicurus ... whose genius surpassed all humankind, extinguished the light of others, as the stars are dimmed by the rising sun.

What can give us more sure knowledge than our senses? How else can we distinguish between the true and the false?

So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds.

Human life lay foul before men's eyes, crushed to the dust beneath religion's weight.

Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.

...if one thing frightens people, it is that so much happens, on earth and out in space, the reasons for which seem somehow to escape them, and they fill in the gap by putting it down to the gods.

True piety lies rather in the power to contemplate the universe with a quiet mind.