Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every creed cries to the universe, "Halt!" A creed is the ignorant Past bulling the enlightened Present.

Secularism is a religion, a religion that is understood. It has no mysteries, no mumblings, no priests, no ceremonies, no falsehoods, no miracles, and no persecutions.

Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.

Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result.

Do you not know that every religion in the world has declared every other religion a fraud? Yes, we all know it. That is the time all religions tell the truth - each of the other.

Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom.

The myth of hell represents all the meanness, all the revenge, all the selfishness, all the cruelty, all the hatred, all the infamy of which the heart of man is capable.

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.

Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself.

The intellectual advancement of man depends on how often he can exchange an old superstition for a new truth.

There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.

My parents have been incredibly supportive from perhaps the first real independent decision I made to become a vegetarian at 11, which was certainly not consistent with their diet at the time.

My proudest achievement has been the success of the shows and artists I have been involved with, because they were made in Britain.

Can you rework your past, the grit that rubs in you, until it is shiny and smooth as a pearl?

It's not necessarily getting older or the change that comes with it, I think it's more about the memories that you have. Where you can look at your life in these eras.

To have someone who's got a strong individual voice that is allowed to be heard is quite increasingly rare. These people need to be cherished.

I'm a hypercompetitive individual.

It has become more acceptable to describe yourself as a conservative, but not everyone who uses that term about themselves really is truly conservative.

G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. We found that they don’t predict anything.

I just want to play strong characters, whatever that is in.

Most inventors and engineers I've met are like me. They're shy and they live in their heads. The very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone.