1. “A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe, and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie.”
2. "Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. In the examination of a great and important question, everyone should be serene, slow-pulsed and calm."
3. “An honest God is the noblest work of man. ...God has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. ... Most of the gods were pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume.”
4. "An infinite personality is an infinite impossibility."
5. “A wonderful word is "clover"! Drop the "c," and you have the happiest of mankind. Drop the "r," and "c," and you have left the only thing that makes a heaven of this dull and barren earth. Drop the "r," and there remains a warm, deceitful bud that sweetens breath and keeps the peace in countless homes whose masters frequent clubs.”
6. “Character survives; goodness lives; love is immortal.”
7. “Civilization has gotten further and further from the so-called 'natural' man, who uses all his faculties: perception, invention, improvisation.”
8. “Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed.”
9. “Courage without conscience is a wild beast.”
10. ”Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb.”
11. “Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne.”
12. “Few rich men own their property; the property owns them.”
13. ”Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.”
14. “Happiness is not a reward -- it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment -- it is a result.”
15. "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so."
16. “He stands erect by bending over the fallen. He rises by lifting others.”
17. "I am not so much for the freedom of religion as I am for the religion of freedom."
18. “I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by reason of the accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart--the best brain. The superior man ... stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.”
19. "If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.”
20. "I have always noticed that the people who have the smallest souls make the most fuss about getting them saved."
21. "I have no confidence in any religion that can be demonstrated only to children."
22. “In all ages, hypocrites who were priests crown men who were thieves and call them kings.”
23. “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments--there are consequences.”
24. "Intelligence is the only moral guide."
25. “In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.”
26. “In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous.”
27. “It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.”
28. “I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.”
29. "Justice should remove the bandage from her eyes long enough to distinguish between the vicious and the unfortunate."
30. “Learn to love good books. There are treasures in books that all the money in the world cannot buy, but the poorest laborer can have for nothing.”
31. "Love is the only bow of life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the Mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kinder of every fire on every hearth, It was the first dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings of common clay."
32. “My creed is this:
Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy is to make others so.”
33. "Our ignorance is God; what we know is science."
34. “Reason, Observation, and Experience -- the Holy Trinity of Science.”
35. "Salvation for credulity means damnation for investigation."
36. “Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity of the unit. Surely it is worth something to be one, and to feel that the census of the universe would be incomplete without counting you. Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought, at least, you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and all depths; that there are no walls nor fences, nor prohibited places, nor sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought; that your intellect owes no allegiance to any being, human or divine; that you hold all in fee and upon no condition and by no tenure whatever; that in the world of mind you are relieved from all personal dictation, and from the ignorant tyranny of majorities. Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no gods, to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison, no dungeon, no cell in which for one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned with fire. Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and that within its curious bastions and winding halls the soul, in spite of all worlds and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of itself.”
37. "Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought, at least, you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and depth; that there are no walls nor fences, nor prohibited places, nor sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought..."
38. “The command "Be fruitful and multiply" was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two people.”
39. “The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”
40. "The man who finds a truth lights a torch."
41. ”The man who follows is a slave. The man who thinks is free.”
42. "The more liberty you give away the more you will have."
43. “There is no slavery but ignorance.”
44. “The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.”
45. “Today the intelligence of the world denies the miraculous. Ignorance is the soil of the supernatural. The foundation of Christianity has crumbled, has disappeared, and the entire fabric must fall. The natural is true. The miraculous is false.”
46. “When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free!”
