"Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them."

"The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy."

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it."

"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law."

"In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. To me, who have not only refused offers, because I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meanness and imposition appear disgustful. Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."

"The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark."

"My own mind is my own church."

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death."

"Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it."

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."

"Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title."

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."

"It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration."

"It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance."

"Calumny is a vice of curious constitution trying to kill it keeps it alive leave it to itself and it will die a natural death."

"Time makes more converts than reason."

"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

"To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches."

"It is painful to behold a man employing his talents to corrupt himself. Nature has been kinder to Mr. Burke than he is to her. He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird."

"What is it the Bible teaches us? - repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us? - to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith."

"An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."

"Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying."

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."

"It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies."

"I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace."

"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection."

"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry."

"To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not."

"The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance."

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

"Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us?"

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."

"We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute."

"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

"The Jews have made him [Yahweh] the assassin of the human species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of a new religion to supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to find pretence and admission for these things, they must have supposed his power or his wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the changeableness of the will is the imperfection of the judgement."

"Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities."

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."

"If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves."

"Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise."

"'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."

"The abilities of man must fall short on one side or the other, like too scanty a blanket when you are abed. If you pull it upon your shoulders, your feet are left bare; if you thrust it down to your feet, your shoulders are uncovered."

"We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities."

"Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one's own efforts."

"A hereditary monarch is as absurd a position as a hereditary doctor or mathematician."

"Human nature is not of itself vicious."