“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.”

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

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

Government is best which governs least.

From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms! Through the land let the sound of it flee; Let the far and the near all unite, with a cheer, In defense of our Liberty Tree.

The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed.

The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.

When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect.

Christianity is the strangest religion ever set up, for it committed a murder upon Jesus in order to redeem mankind from the sin of eating an apple.

Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.

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

Every person of learning is finally his own teacher.

Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undertake to support it.

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

When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

Practical religion consists in doing good: and the only way of serving God is that of endeavoring to make His creation happy. All preaching that has not this for its object is nonsense and hypocrisy.

One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption.

I’ve been not only articulating the dissatisfaction with Albany, I’ve been acting on it. I’ve been very aggressive in bringing public integrity cases and public corruption cases and bringing cases against sitting legislators

No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

The corruption of religions comes from turning them to mere words and appearances.

The sadness of our planet has corrupted mankind’s ability to make empowering decisions.

It is awful hard to get people interested in corruption unless they can get some of it.