Those who want to be offended don't have the right to try and close down the newspaper that offends them.

If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world.

Islamophobia: a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.

Religion is poison because it asks us to give up our most precious faculty, which is that of reason, and to believe things without evidence. It then asks us to respect this, which it calls faith.

Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.

Human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.

The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has—from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.

All the women want to be with me, all the men want to be like me.

To be wholly devoted to some intellectual exercise is to have succeeded in life.

With the sense of sight, the idea communicates the emotion, whereas, with sound, the emotion communicates the idea, which is more direct and therefore more powerful.

If the world is to save any part of its resources for the future, it must reduce not only consumption but the number of consumers.

My opinion of my whole experience varies from time to time.

You need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and not come away thinking, "Hey, there's something wrong with this mirror."

A night journey is essentially a thing of possibilities.

Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.

I would say that foreign policy is a place where intelligence, resolve, clarity, and confidence in cause, is of extraordinary importance.

I always remember that whatever I have done in the past or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible in one way or another.