If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him; let us worship God through Jesus if we must - if ignorance has so far prevailed that this name can still be spoken in all seriousness without being taken as a synonym for rapine and carnage. Every sensible man, every honourable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror.

Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

History consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions.

Once your faith persuades you to believe what your intelligence declares absurd, beware, lest you likewise sacrifice your reason in the conduct of your life.

The most amazing and effective inventions are not those which do most honour to the human genius.

Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.