In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.

If there be gods we cannot help them, but we can assist our fellow men. We cannot love the inconceivable, but we can love wife and child and friend.

If the people were a little more ignorant, astrology would flourish - if a little more enlightened, religion would perish.

There is more real devotional feeling summoned from the temple of the mind by great music than by any sermon ever delivered.

The first duty of man is to support himself - to see to it that he does not become a burden. His next duty is to help others if he has a surplus, and if he really believes they deserve to be helped.

All prayers die in the air which they uselessly agitate.

In my judgment, the Deists were all successfully answered. The god of nature is certainly as bad as the God of the Old Testament. It is only when we discard the idea of a deity, the idea of cruelty or goodness in nature, that we are able ever to bear with patience the ills of life. I feel that I am neither a favorite nor a victim. Nature neither loves nor hates me.