If there is a God, there should be no slaves.

Let us put theology out of religion. Theology has always sent the worst to heaven, the best to hell.

To me, the most obscene word in our language is celibacy.

When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust.

Death is only perfect rest.

The man who invented the telescope found out more about heaven than the closed eyes of prayer ever discovered.

Where is the soul? . . . I refuse to believe anything of that kind without proof. The idea that, as soon as a man's breath leaves his body, the soul flops out like a chicken's head and flies off into space to find a lodgment where there [are] harps and haloes. Too much for me.