At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and read more

At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and a version of history. To human nature (of the sort conceived), in a universe (of the kind imagined), after a history (so understood), the rules of the code apply.

For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

Don't be an agnostic--be something.

Don't be an agnostic--be something.

The world holds two classes of men: intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.

The world holds two classes of men: intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the read more

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.

I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory read more

I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of the woman on the American silver dollar.

Should our moral beliefs really prove to be dependent on factual assumptions shown to be incorrect, it would be hardly read more

Should our moral beliefs really prove to be dependent on factual assumptions shown to be incorrect, it would be hardly moral to defend them by refusing to acknowledge the facts.

Scientific criticism has no nobler task than to shatter false beliefs.

Scientific criticism has no nobler task than to shatter false beliefs.