I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

The best is the enemy of the good.

"If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

Thought depends largely on the stomach. In spite of this, those with the best stomachs are not always the best thinkers.

It is said that God is always on the side of the big battalions.

It is a serious question among them whether they [Africans] are descended from monkeys or whether the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man was created in the image of God. Now here is a lovely image of the Divine Maker: a flat and black nose with little or hardly any intelligence. A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for everything.

Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.