It is reported in the supplement of the council of Nicæan that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the cryphal or apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments, put them all pell-mell on an altar, and the books to be rejected fell to the ground. It is a pity that this eloquent procedure has not survived.

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

The Jews are of all peoples the grosses, the most ferocious, the most fanatical, and the most absurd.

I am the best-natured creature in the world, and yet I have already killed three, and of these three two were priests.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

The superstitious man is to the rogue what the slave is to the tyrant.

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.