Liberty is a great celestial Goddess, strong, beneficent, and austere, and she can never descend upon a nation by the shouting of crowds, nor by arguments of unbridled passion, nor by the hatred of class against class.

Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act.

For centuries the leaders of Christian thought spoke of women as a necessary evil, and the greatest saints of the Church are those who despise women the most.

Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience is absurd.

No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism.

We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.

Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head.

Honor means that a man is not exceptional; fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost.

Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.

Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.

The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.

Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us.

The longer a man's fame is likely to last, the longer it will be in coming.

Journalists are like dogs, when ever anything moves they begin to bark.

Friends and acquaintances are the surest passport to fortune.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.