Men Often Act Knowingly Against Their Interest.

Morals Excite Passions, And Produce Or Prevent Actions. Reason Of Itself Is Utterly Impotent In This Particular. The Rules Of Morality, Therefore, Are Not Conclusions Of Our Reason.

I Shall Venture To Affirm, That There Never Was A Popular Religion, Which Represented The State Of Departed Souls In Such A Light,as Would Render It Eligible For Human Kind, That There Should Be Such A State. These Fine Models Of Religion Are The Mere Product Of Philosophy. For As Death Lies Between The Eye And The Prospect Of Futurity, That Event Is So Shocking To Nature, That It Must Throw A Gloom On All The Regions Which Lie Beyond It; And Suggest To The Generality Of Mankind The Idea Of Cerberus And Furies; Devils, And Torrents Of Fire And Brimstone.

It Is More Rational To Suspect Knavery And Folly Than To Discount, At A Stroke, Everything That Past Experience Has Taught Me About The Way Things Actually Work

Avarice, Or The Desire Of Gain, Is A Universal Passion Which Operates At All Times, At All Places, And Upon All Persons.

If Suicide Be Supposed A Crime, It Is Only Cowardice Can Impel Us To It. If It Be No Crime, Both Prudence And Courage Should Engage Us To Rid Ourselves At Once Of Existence When It Becomes A Burden. It Is The Only Way That We Can Then Be Useful To Society, By Setting An Example Which, If Imitated, Would Preserve Every One His Chance For Happiness In Life, And Would Effectually Free Him From All Danger Or Misery.