The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system.

The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.

...It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.

We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.

The mind, in discovering truths, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.

A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.

The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.