In this country [England] it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others. The reference is to Admiral John Byng, who was executed in 1757 for failing to prevent the French from taking Minorca.

Exaggeration, the inseparable companion of greatness.

No one is ignorant that our character and turn of mind are intimately connected with the water-closet.

Fear could never make virtue.

Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.

Paradise is where I am

Most of my life has been one tragedy after another, most of which hasn't happened.