“Let is walk ... joyously, dear souls, among the difficulties of this passing life ... These pains will have an end when our life ends, after which there will be only joy, only contentment, only eternal consolation.”

“The only thing that guarantees an open-ended collaboration among human beings, the only thing that guarantees that this project is truly open-ended, is a willingness to have our beliefs and behaviors modified by the power of conversation.”

“Christianity operates under the “malevolent universe” premise, which holds that humans are destined to a life of pain and suffering because pain and suffering are the natural state of life and not only are all people inherently evil, but the world itself is evil and the only hope that humanity has for happiness is in another form of existence, eternal life in paradise after we die.”

“There are no dead ends in life, only dead end thinking.”

“You have your own life to live, and at its end, the only opinion that amounts to anything is that which God bestows.”

“If only they would all just leave me alone with my books and my letters, I would be content to let life, and the world pass me by”