Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it.

A cat has a reputation to protect. If it had a halo, it would be worn cocked to one side.

Cultural creation... begins where chaos and insecurity end.

There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.

How much more suffering is caused by the thought of death than by death itself.

So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with scepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean.

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.