Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.

It is pure illusion to think that an opinion which passes down from century to century, from generation to generation, may not be entirely false.

Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.

It is only common prejudice that induces us to believe that atheism is a fearful state.

If an historian were to relate truthfully all the crimes, weaknesses, and disorders of mankind, his readers would take his work for satire rather than for history.

I mention this only to shew that the citations of the most judicious authors frequently deceive us, and consequently that prudence obliges us to examine quotations, by whomsoever alleged.

I am a good Protestant, and in the full sense of the term, for from the bottom of my soul, I protest against everything that is said, and everything that is done.