To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.

Never has any one been less a priest than Jesus, never a greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext of protecting it. By this we are all h…

Let us pardon him his hope of a vain apocalypse, and of a second coming in great triumph upon the clouds of heaven. Perhaps these were the errors of others rat…

In morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and only attains its full value when realized in the world as fact.

I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for m…

At times it may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.

There are worse things than a lie... I have found... that it may be well to choose one sin in order that another may be shunned.