“Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

“Because reason...is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us...”

“So that, in effect, religion, which should most distinguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts themselves.”

“What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their ability to act according to their beliefs.”

“The ability to make love frivolously is the chief characteristic which distinguishes human beings from the beasts.”

“If you spend your life sparing people’s feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them.”