Men prefer to believe that they are degenerated angels, rather than elevated apes.

We live between two worlds; we soar in the atmosphere; we creep upon the soil; we have the aspirations of creators and the propensities of quadrupeds. There can be but one explanation of this fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher form, and the drama of this planet is in its second act.

Our enlightened posterity will look back upon us who eat oxen and sheep, just as we look upon cannibals.

A day will come when the European god of the nineteenth century will be classed with the gods of Olympus and the Nile.

One fact must be familiar to all those who have any experience of human nature - a sincerely religious man is often an exceedingly bad man.

Doubt is the offspring of knowledge: the savage never doubts at all.

Christians believe themselves to be the aristocracy of heaven upon earth, they are admitted to the spiritual court, while millions of men in foreign lands have never been presented. They bow their knees and say they are 'miserable sinners,' and their hearts rankle with abominable pride. Poor infatuated fools! Their servility is real and their insolence is real but their king is a phantom and their palace is a dream.