I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, much more a man who hath any honesty in him.

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Don’t create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.

I think God gives every one of us our own will, and unfortunately, some people choose to do evil things with it.

Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

I make preparations both to live and to die every day, but with the emphasis on not dying, and on acting as if I was going to carry on living.

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present.

There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.

I don’t see myself as a philosopher. That’s awfully boring.

Many religious confessions share common values. They teach that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

The bells will ring and the marriages will begin. And it’s a great day in our state for equal protection under the law for all people.

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

I am a deeply religious nonbeliever – this is a somewhat new kind of religion.

It is as necessary for man to live in beauty rather than ugliness as it is necessary for him to have food for an aching belly or rest for a weary body.

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.

The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our justice before divine justice.

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.

It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.

Law is always better than war.

I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don’t believe in the whole thing of just using other people’s money. I don’t think that’s right. I’m not going to ask other people to invest in something if I’m not prepared to do so myself.

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.

May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law.

If you’re in favour of any policy – reform, revolution, stability, regression, whatever – if you’re at least minimally moral, it’s because you think it’s somehow good for people. And good for people means conforming to their fundamental nature.

This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.

And whether you’re an honest man, or whether you’re a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.

There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

To do a great right do a little wrong.

Man – a being in search of meaning.

Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Change alone is unchanging.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.

Even Gaddafi’s adversaries assure us that he stood out for his intelligence as a student; he was expelled from high-school for his anti-monarchic activities. He managed to enroll in another high-school and later graduated in law at the University of Benghazi at the age of 21.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‚But how can it be like that?‘ because you will get ‚down the drain,‘ into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.

We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us seeing it.

It’s not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us; it’s the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.

I do think there must be some kind of interaction between your living life and the life that goes on from here.

More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.