For myself, I have but little confidence in any business, or enterprise, or investment, that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders.

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

I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men.

The ministers, who preached at these revivals, were in earnest. They were zealous and sincere. They were not philosophers. To them science was the name of a vague dread - a dangerous enemy. They did not know much, but they believed a great deal.

If the people were a little more ignorant, astrology would flourish - if a little more enlightened, religion would perish.

[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.

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.