Civilization, or that which is so called, has operated two ways to make one part of society more affluent and the other part more wretched than would have been the lot of either in a natural state.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

[A]ll churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and profit.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

Religion is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

A 21st century poet is a woman who can speak her mind and stand upright like a mountain with her convictions, but can adapt like water in an ever changing season without losing her genuine elements.

Naughty children have to be protected. Even if it's just from themselves.

Dig deep to finish what you start. Because no matter how hard it feels to push through adversity at the time, once your done, you'll own the experience for the rest of your life.

If I am so terribly limited as to view my handicaps as nothing more than lamentable limitations, then I have taken some of my greatest God-given assets and completely handicapped them.

Reason ruling alone is a force confining and passion unattended is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Ne'er of the living can the living judge - too blind the affection or too fresh the grudge.

Nearly all trouble comes from mis-timing.

I have a little name. That's why people can remember it.

People of the world don't look at themselves, and so they blame one another.

Every bush can burn if you fire it with your imagination.