I believe in God, although I live very happily with atheists... It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe… - Denis Diderot

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.

There comes a moment when nearly all young girls and young boys become melancholic. They are disturbed by a vague uneasiness which extends to everything and can find no consolation. They look for solitude. They weep. The silence of the cloister moves them and the image of peace which seems to reign in religious houses seduces them. They mistake the first movements of their developing emotions for the voice of God calling them and it is at the precise moment when nature is calling to them that they embrace a life which is contrary to the laws of nature.

To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.