I choose my life to this free. I choose my life to be this way

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.

Only those who dream with a sense of urgency get to wake up from their dreams.

I'm rarely rude except accidentally, and that doesn't really count...

Fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.

Well, if you pick a fight with somebody that's smaller than you and you beat them, where's the honor in that?

Doubt is part of the human drama. But don't let it consume you-let it motivate you.

The Christians stole the winter solstice from the pagans, and capitalism stole it from the Christians.

Of all the tyrants the world affords, our own affections are the fiercest lords.

Nate: “And,” he said, “boys at twelve aren’t exactly slick with the ladies.” Ruby: “’Slick with the ladies’?” I said. “Are you twelve?

What do I have to say to the universe? A soul ought to have something to say to the universe if it's going to be immortal.

Why the hell wouldn't you want to be one of the fabulous people, the life enhancers, who look interesting and smell luscious and who dare to be gorgeously more fascinating than their neighbors?