“Scopes isn’t on trial; civilization is on trial.”

The difference between the child and the man lies chiefly in the unlimited confidence and buoyancy of youth.

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I’m beginning to believe it.

Chase after the truth like all hell.

Anyone can spot a lie, unless he is in need of that lie.

Wars always bring about a conservative reaction. They overwhelm and destroy patient and careful efforts to improve the condition of man.

I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose.

My constitution was destroyed long ago; now I am living under the bylaws.

Chloroform unfit children. Show them the same mercy that is shown beasts that are no longer fit to live.

Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away.

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.

Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was fifth.

In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the belief in God and in personal immortality.

I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

The man who fights for his fellow-man is a better man than the one who fights for himself.

I feel as I always have, that the earth is the home and the only home of man, and I am convinced that whatever he is to get out of his existence he must get while he is here.

America didn’t bypass or escape civilization. It did something far more profound, far cleverer: it simply changed what civilization could be.

The rich become richer and the poor become poorer is a cry heard throughout the whole civilized world.

The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate.

If a society does not wage a common struggle to attain a common goal with its women and men, scientifically there is no way for it to become civilized or developed.

Civilization means conforming to a standard of behavior that may not seem natural to us.

Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest.

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.

Science is the most reliable guide for civilization, for life, for success in the world. Searching a guide other than the science is meaning carelessness, ignorance and heresy.