The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.

Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind.

Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad.

Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.

Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.

To be nobly wrong is more manly than to be meanly right.