Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true Word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to …

Only the skilled can judge the skilfulness, but that is not the same as judging the value of the result.

And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed, Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.

The disposition of mankind, whether as rulers or as fellow-citizens, to impose their own opinions and inclinations as a rule of conduct on others, is so energe…

He has arrogated to himself despotic authority and the actual sovereignty of these realms under the mask of humility and the public service....Obedience and su…