He, who survives his reputation, lives out of despite himself, like a man listening to his own reproach.

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.

What must not be read must not be written.

Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire

The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs.

That's what makes life so hard for women, that instead of thinking that this is the way things are, we always think it's the way we are.

Tense and nervous are not the words, though they are the words

I think Picasso was, without doubt, the greatest portraitist of the 20th century, if not any other century.

People understand contests. You take a bunch of kids throwing rocks at random and people look askance, but if you go and hold a rock-throwing contest - people understand that.

Writers don’t care what they eat. They just care what you think of them

I've been writing joke songs since I was a kid and it served me well at S.N.L. I can write those in my sleep. In fact, I have.

The most miserable prison in the world is the prison we make for ourselves when we refuse to show mercy.