All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolies power and profit.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.

Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.