Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.

Years should not be devoted to the acquisition of dead languages or to the study of history which, for the most part, is a detailed account of things that never occurred. It is useless to fill the individual with dates of great battles, with the births and deaths of kings. They should be taught the philosophy of history, the growth of nations, of philosophies, theories, and, above all, of the sciences.

Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself.

Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.

With their backs to the sunrise they worship the night.

Too much doubt is better than too much credulity.

The Catholic Church is a thousand times better than your Protestant Church upon that question [of damnation]. The Catholic Church believes in purgatory - that is, a place where a fellow can get a chance to make a motion for a new trial.