I thank thee, Mother Nature, that thou hast put ingenuity enough in the brain of a child, when attacked by a brutal parent, to throw up a little breastwork in the shape of a lie.

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.

The meanest hut with love in it is a palace fit for the gods, and a palace without love is a den only fit for wild beasts.

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

Memory is the miser of the mind; forgetfulness the spendthrift.

Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshiper. He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer.

Mental slavery is mental death, and every man who has given up his intellectual freedom is the living coffin of his dead soul.