“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”

“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”

“If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.”

“Prejudices are what fools use for reason.”

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.”

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

“But in this country it is necessary, now and then, to put one admiral to death in order to inspire the others to fight.”