Many people think they have religion when they are troubled with dyspepsia.

The whip degrades; a severe father teaches his children to dissemble; their love is pretense, and their obedience a species of self-defense. Fear is the father of lies.

No one can control his own opinion or his own belief. My belief was forced upon me by my surroundings. I am the product of all circumstances that have in any way touched me.

Any doctrine that will not bear investigation is not a fit tenant for the mind of an honest man.

It is impossible for me to conceive of a character more utterly detestable than that of the Hebrew god.

If a man wishes to have God recognized in the constitution of our country, let him read the history of the Inquisition, and let him remember that hundreds of millions of men, women, and children have been sacrificed to placate the wrath, or win the approbation of this god.

Liberty is the breath of progress.