“Some are Atheists by Neglect; others are so by Affectation; they, that think there is no God at some times; do not think so at all times.”

It is altogether as worthy of God and as much becoming Him to pardon and show mercy, in case of repentance and submission and reformation, as to punish, in case of impenitency and obstinacy.

He that neither knows himself nor thinks he can learn of others is not fit for company.

Nothing spoils human nature more than false zeal. The good nature of a heathen is more God-like than the furious zeal of a Christian.

We never better enjoy ourselves than when we most enjoy God.

A benefactor is a representative of God.

Such an explication of Grace as sets men at liberty in morals, makes void the Law through Faith.

He that is dishonest, trusts nobody.

None are known to be good, till they have opportunity to be bad.

None of us was born knowing or wise; but men become wise by consideration, observation, experience.

The judge is nothing but the law speaking.

Among politicians the esteem of religion is profitable; the principles of it are troublesome.

None more deceive themselves than they who think their religion is true and genuine, thought it refines not their spirits and reforms not their lives.

Fear is the denomination of the Old Testament; belief is the denomination of the New.

We are only so free that others may be free as well as we.

Some things must be good in themselves, else there could be no measure whereby to lay out good and evil.

Whoever despiseth shame, despiseth sin.

The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.

Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.

Tolerance and freedom of thought are the veritable antidotes to religious fanaticism.

A heretic, my dear sir, is a fellow who disagrees with you regarding something neither of you knows anything about.

If there is no God or no evidence of God and certainly no evidence of a very morally engaged god, then whatever has to be done has to be done by us.

I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.

The one function that most gods seem to have in common is to give human existence some ultimate purpose – and, while it is not possible to disprove an ultimate purpose, there does not seem to be any evidence for it.

Why am I an atheist? The short answer is that I cannot accept any of the alternatives. I simply don’t find them believable.