Panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstone of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might have lain forever undiscovered.

Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order.

It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.

I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.

Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undertake to support it.

The intellectual part of religion is a private affair between every man and his Maker, and in which no third party has any right to interfere. The practical part consists in our doing good to each other. But since religion has been made into a trade, the practical part has been made to consist of ceremonies performed by men called priests ... By devices of this kind true religion has been banished, and such means have been found out to extract money, even from the pockets of the poor, instead of contributing to their relief.

The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense.