We rise by lifting others.
Either god should have written a book to fit my brain, or he should have made my brain to fit his book.
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.
A mortgage casts a shadow on the sunniest field.
Christianity has such a contemptible opinion of human nature that it does not believe a man can tell the truth unless frightened by a belief in god. No lower opinion of the human race has ever been expressed.
It is told that the great Angelo, in decorating a church, painted some angels wearing sandals. A cardinal looking at the picture said to the artist: Whoever saw angels with sandals? Angelo answered with another question: Whoever saw an angel barefooted?
Honest investigation is utterly impossible within the pale of any church, for the reason, that if you think the church is right you will not investigate, and if you think it wrong, the church will investigate you.
Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction.
The destroyer of weeds, thistles, and thorns is a benefactor whether he soweth grain or not.
Laughing has always been considered by theologians as a crime.
A good deed is the best prayer.
I found that the clergy did not understand their own book.
It cannot be too often repeated, that truth scorns the assistance of miracle.
Orthodoxy cannot afford to put out the fires of hell.
Fear is a dagger with which hypocrisy assassinates the soul.
I believe in the gospel of cheerfulness, the gospel of Good Nature; the gospel of Good Health. Let us pay some attention to our bodies. Take care of our bodies, and our souls will take care of themselves.
I hate above all things a cross man. What right has he to murder the sunshine of a day? What right has he to assassinate the Joy of life? When you go home, you ought to go like a ray of light-so that it will, even in the night, burst out of the doors and windows and illuminate the darkness.
Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country, and the maligners of his honor.
If I go to heaven I want to take my reason with me.
In the presence of death I affirm and reaffirm the truth of all that I have said against the superstitions of the world. I would say that much on the subject with my last breath.