So, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They live on alms. All beggars teach that others should give.

If we admit that some infinite being has controlled the destinies of persons and peoples, history becomes a most cruel and bloody farce.

Every pulpit is a pillory, in which stands a hired culprit, defending the justice of his own imprisonment.

If there is a God, there should be no slaves.

The moment you introduce a despotism in the world of thought, you succeed in making hypocrites - and you get in such a position that you never know what your neighbor thinks.

No man of sense in the whole world believes in devils any more than he does in mermaids, vampires, gorgons, hydras, naiads, dryads, nymphs, fairies, the Fountain of Youth, [or] the Philosopher's Stone. . . .

Hope is the consolation of the world.