"Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad."

"He [Erasmus Darwin] used to say that 'unitarianism was a feather-bed to catch a falling Christian."

"I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone."

"God is merciful in what He sometimes lets us forget."

"It was no joy waking up after a dream about that man. He left a taste of thunder in my mouth."

"You can do anything you want to do. What is rare is this actual wanting to do a specific thing: wanting it so much that you are practically blind to all other things, that nothing else will satisfy you,."

"You don't want to make mistakes with people. Sometimes when you make a mistake you lose a human soul."

"It's always easier to learn something than to use what you've learned."

"We become like dead branches and last year's leaves and what the hell good are we for ourselves and the world in a mental ghetto."

"Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the Potter and I am the clay."

"Did he really believe God wrote stories that were open to one explanation only? A story that knew but one explanation could hardly be interesting and was certainly not worth the trouble of remembering."

"To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!"

"Since the Church is to be servant to the poor, it is our fault if that wealth is not channeled to help the poor in our world."

"When you have people together who believe in something very strongly - whether it's religion or politics or unions - things happen."

"We're going to pray a lot and picket a lot."

"I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about."

"Karl Marx: "Religion is the opiate of the masses." Carrie Fisher: "I did masses of opiates religiously."

"A man does not serve God when he prays, for it is himself he is trying to serve"

"My most lucrative job in college was a stint as the regional Dodge Girl."

"Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being."

"Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense."

"You could just as well say that an agnostic is a deeply religious person with at least a rudimentary knowledge of human fallibility."

"It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men."

"You haven't partied until you've partied at dawn in complete silence with Buddhist monks."