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.
Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul.
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
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.
Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to believe.
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
That which is now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not consist, as the schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of languages, but in the knowledge of things to which language gives names.
That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true…
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.
Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.
And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.
It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.
The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
Every man who knows anything of languages, knows that it is impossible to translate from one language into another, not only without losing a great part of the original, but frequently of mistaking the sense.
We must be compelled to hold this doctrine to be false, and the old and new law called the Old and new Testament, to be impositions, fables and forgeries
Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.
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.
One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us?
A hereditary monarch is as absurd a position as a hereditary doctor or mathematician.
For though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.
What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; it’s dearness only that gives everthing its value.
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.
Common sense will tell us, thatthe power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, themost improper to defend us.
There exists in man a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition,to the grave.
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.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things.
Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.
I choose my life to this free. I choose my life to be this way
Every child born in the world must be considered as deriving its existence from God. The world is this new to him as it was to the first that existed, and his natural right in it is of the same kind.
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.
Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits is a subject as worthy of philosophy as of politics.
Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
The world is my country all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must like men undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue but moderation in principle is always a vice.
The world is my country all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion.
The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly ’tis dearness only that gives everything it’s value.
The world is my country all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
A man may write himself out of reputation when nobody else can do it.
‘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.
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.
War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.
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 real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
Reputation is what men and women think of us character is what God and angels know of us.
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.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.
He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third.
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.
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.