The falling leaf that tells of autumn's death is, in a subtler sense, a prophecy of spring.

Where is the soul? . . . I refuse to believe anything of that kind without proof. The idea that, as soon as a man's breath leaves his body, the soul flops out like a chicken's head and flies off into space to find a lodgment where there [are] harps and haloes. Too much for me.

I have not the slightest confidence in 'spiritual manifestations.'

The Church has always been willing to swap off treasures in heaven for cash down.

I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men.

Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers: It is the only prayer that deserves an answer—good, honest, noble work.

Take the word Liberty from human speech and all the other words become poor, withered, meaningless sounds - but with that word realized - with that word understood, the world becomes a paradise.