The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian read more

The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so read more

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

Only the sinner has a right to preach.

Only the sinner has a right to preach.

Measure not men by Sundays, without regarding what they do all the week after.

Measure not men by Sundays, without regarding what they do all the week after.

O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.

O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may read more

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may be called "sciences as one would." For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections color and infect the understanding.

As a first approximation, I define "belief" not as the object of believing (a dogma, a program, etc.) but as read more

As a first approximation, I define "belief" not as the object of believing (a dogma, a program, etc.) but as the subject's investment in a proposition, the act of saying it and considering it as true.

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

If the truth were known, many sermons are prepared and preached with more regard for the sermon than the souls read more

If the truth were known, many sermons are prepared and preached with more regard for the sermon than the souls of the hearers.