Bad as political fiction can be, there is always a politician prepared to make it look artistic by comparison.

If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world.

Islamophobia: a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.

Religion is poison because it asks us to give up our most precious faculty, which is that of reason, and to believe things without evidence. It then asks us to respect this, which it calls faith.

Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.

Human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.

The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has—from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.

Giving is the sacred-gift that creates wealth.

Wisdom too often never comes, so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.

Life is an addiction Wind to feel, Love to crave, Power to have, Cigarette's to smoke.

If you have to fear something, fear mediocrity.

Time is a corrosive fluid, dissolving motivation, destroying novelty, and leaching the joy from life.

People are more likely to pass me on the street without recognizing me, and that's good.

There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular one is Providence.

Most of us aren't very graceful about not having our needs met, when and how we want them met.

Independence is a state of mind. Independence is spirit without category.

It is a happy art to know when one has said enough. I would leave my hearers wishing me to say more rather than give them cause toshow, by their inattention, that I had said too much.