There is no slavery but ignorance.

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.

Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

Don’t allow the challenges to overpower you. Choose a positive attitude and persistent endurance over defeat.

Ambition built n the pain of others has no nobility or substance

Let's stop playing with ourselves and get on with the entertainment, shall we?

I personally don't think ginger men have a habit of being attractive. We have to make ourselves seem attractive by doing stuff.

There's been a 40-year effort on the far right to build up think tanks, academic programs, advocacy groups, to push a particular ideology. That's really where the impact is that people don't see.

There is something self-defeating in the too-conscious pursuit of pleasure.

You can be interested in a Jane Smiley novel whether or not anyone says a word. She enters into her characters thoughts with great understanding and depth.

It's not his job, the president's, to pick winners and losers, nor to pass judgment on anybody.

I'm my own psychologist.