The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.

Were I to commence my administration again, the first question I would ask respecting a candidate would be, Does he use ardent spirits?

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

The only thing a man can take beyond this lifetime is his ethics.

The Christian god is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust.

With the same honest views, the most honest men often form different conclusions.

I don't want them to kill no hog . . . . I want a man to go to that chair, on his own two feet.