Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will. - Mark Twain

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.

The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive ... but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born.

When it comes down to pure ornamental cursing, the native American is gifted above the sons of men.

These natives are strange people—they can die whenever they want to—don't mind dying anymore than a jilted Frenchman.