Nothing is greater than to break the chains from the bodies of men, nothing nobler than to destroy the phantom of the soul.

He who treats his friends and enemies alike, has neither love nor justice.

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

Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith! Banish me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge!

If the world ever advances beyond what it is today, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.

I believe in the religion of reason -- the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation of intellectual wealth, to the end that man may free himself from superstitious fear, to the end that he may take advantage of the forces of nature to feed and clothe the world.

[T]he blossom of benevolence, of charity, is the fairest flower, no matter whether it blooms by the side of a hovel, or bursts from a vine climbing the marble pillar of a palace. I respect no man because he is rich; I hold in contempt no man because he is poor.