“Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.”

“Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.”

“Be as decent as you can. Don't believe without evidence. Treat things divine with marked respect — don't have anything to do with them. Do not trust humanity without collateral security; it will play you some scurvy trick. Remember that it hurts no one to be treated as an enemy entitled to respect until he shall prove himself a friend worthy of affection. Cultivate a taste for distasteful truths. And, finally, most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.”

“Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.”

“Infidel, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.”

“Prejudice is a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.”

“As a means of dispensing formulated ignorance our boasted public school system is not without merit; it spreads out education sufficiently thin to give everyone enough to make him a more competent fool than he would have been without it...”