“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last
“It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late
“It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.
“No power in society, no hardship in your condition can depress you, keep you down, in knowledge, power, virtue, influence, but by your own consent.
“Courage considered in itself or without reference to its causes, is no virtue, and deserves no esteem
“It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state
“Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays
“Morality is a venereal disease. Its primary stage is called virtue; its secondary stage, boredom; its tertiary stage, syphilis