We need men with moral courage to speak and write their real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the very death.
It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.
Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought, at least, you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and depth; that there are no walls nor fences, nor prohibited places, nor sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought.
Suspicion is only another form of cowardice. The man who suspects constantly suspects because he is afraid. Whenever you find a man with a free, frank, generous, brave nature, you will find that man without suspicion.
I say, let us think. Let each one express his thought. Let us become investigators, not followers, not cringers and crawlers. If there is in Heaven an infinite being, he never will be satisfied with the worship of cowards and hypocrites.
Few nations have been so poor as to have but one god. Gods were made so easily, and the raw material cost so little, that generally the god market was fairly glutted and heaven crammed with these phantoms.
Nothing is more despicable than to reach fame by crawling, position by cringing.
Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.
I regard the rights of men and women equal. In Love's fair realm, husband and wife are king and queen, sceptered and crowned alike, and seated on the self-same throne.
For the most part, we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs.
I simply claim that what ideas I have, I have a right to express; and that any man who denies that right to me is an intellectual thief and robber.
Every good government is made up of good families. The unit of good government is the family, and anything that tends to destroy the family is perfectly devilish and infamous.
Voltaire made up his mind to destroy the superstition of his time. He fought with every weapon that genius could devise or use. He was the greatest of all caricaturists, and he used this wonderful gift without mercy.
Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne.
Whoever labors for the happiness of those he loves elevates himself, no matter whether he works in the dreary shop or the perfumed field.
I can imagine no sweeter way to end one's life than in the quiet of the country, out of the mad race for money, place and power - far from the demands of business - out of the dusty highway where fools struggle and strive for the hollow praise of other fools.
I think the man who eats the bread of idleness is under a certain obligation to speak well of labor.
The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.
I find that in this day and generation, the meanest men have the lowest estimate of woman; that the greater the man is, the grander he is, the more he thinks of mother, wife and daughter.
I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.
