Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death, and religiosu wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man?

Government is a necessary evil

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them.

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.

Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.