"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."
— Abraham Lincoln

"The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend."
— Abraham Lincoln

"Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric."
— Bertrand Russell

"Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness."
— Bertrand Russell

"Now and then, hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."
— Bertrand Russell

"Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own. "
— Bertrand Russell (What I Believe)

"War doesn’t decide who is right, war decides who is left."
— Bertrand Russell

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser men so full of doubts."
— Bertrand Russell

"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine. "
— Bertrand Russell

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education."
— Bertrand Russell

"Let children learn about different faiths, let them notice their incompatibility, and let them draw their own conclusions about the consequences of that incompatibility. As for whether they are ‘valid,’ let them make up their own minds when they are old enough to do so."
— Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion)

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
— Richard Dawkins

"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you."
— Christopher Hitchens

"There are two things children should get from their parents: roots and wings."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"By seeking and blundering we learn. "
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe