If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization.

Too much doubt is better than too much credulity.

The greatest superstition now entertained by public men is that hypocrisy is the royal road to success.

One man in the right will finally get to be a majority.

Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction.

An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment.

I would rather live with the woman I love in a world full of trouble, than to live in heaven with nobody but men.