If anyone decided to call the sea Neptune, and corn Ceres, and to misapply the name of Bacchus rather than to give liquor its right name, so be it; and let him dub the round world "Mother of the Gods" so long as he is careful not really to infest his mind with base superstitions.

For fools admire and love those things they see hidden in verses turned all upside down, and take for truth what sweetly strokes the ears and comes with sound of phrases fine imbued.

Fear is the mother of all gods ... Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods.

Too often in time past, religion has brought forth criminal and shameful actions... How many evils has religion caused?

We notice that the mind grows with the body, and with it decays.

The gods and their tranquil abodes appear, which no winds disturb, nor clouds bedew with showers, nor does the white snow, hardened by frost, annoy them; the heaven, always pure, is without clouds, and smiles with pleasant light diffused.

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