Every proprietor owes to the community a ground-rent for the land which he holds.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

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

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

[A]ll churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and profit.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

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

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.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

The path of meditation and the path of our lives altogether ha to do with curiosity, inquisitiveness.

Fairy tales are make believe and reality sucks, but I happen to live in both worlds.

I've never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don’t like eating fish. And I know that's very popular out there in Africa.

I don't think of my songs as sad songs. I think of them as vulnerable and honest. I crack jokes in between songs, so people don't leave feeling too dark.

For what one has to learn to do, we learn by doing.

It's all written out, you know. Everything is fate. All written out in Heaven, or written out in Hell.

I must ... warn my readers that my attacks are directed against themselves, not against my stage figures.

Stimuli, however, do not act upon an indifferent organism.

I do not rule Russia. 10,000 clerks do.

If I have any particular appeal to women, maybe it's because I listen more than other guys do and appreciate how they think and feel about things.