In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.

On every hand there seems to be design to defeat design. If God created man - if he is the father of us all, why did he make the criminals, the insane, the deformed and idiotic? Should the mother, who clasps to her breast an idiot child, thank God?

My objection to Christianity is that it is infinitely cruel, infinitely selfish, and, I might add, infinitely absurd.

If the world ever advances beyond what it is today, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.

I believe in the religion of reason -- the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation of intellectual wealth, to the end that man may free himself from superstitious fear, to the end that he may take advantage of the forces of nature to feed and clothe the world.

Too much doubt is better than too much credulity.

Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization.