The ministers are in duty bound to denounce all intellectual pride, and show that we are never quite so dear to God as when we admit that we are poor, corrupt and idiotic worms; that we never should have been born; that we ought to be damned without the least delay.... The old creed is still taught. They still insist that God is infinitely wise, powerful and good, and that all men are totally depraved. They insist that the best man god ever made, deserved to be damned the moment he was finished.

Let us agree not to step on each other’s feet.

When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men are civilized. The people need education - facts - philosophy.

It is hard to overstate the debt we owe to the men and women of genius.

Commerce is the great civilizer. We exchange ideas when we exchange fabrics.

There is something tenderly appropriate in the serene death of the old. Nothing is more touching than the death of the young, the strong.

It is grander to think and investigate for yourself than to repeat a creed.