Ademption

“Now laws remain respected not because they are just but because they are laws. That is the mystical basis of their authority. They have no other. It serves them well, too. Laws are often made by fools, and even more often by men who fail in equity because they hate equality: but always by men, vain authorities who can resolve nothing. No person commits crimes more grossly, widely or regularly than our laws. If anyone obeys them only when they are just, then he fails to obey them for just the reason he must!”
― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

“They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society. The frustrated, oppressed by their shortcomings, blame their failure on existing restraints. Actually their innermost desire is for an end to the “free for all.” They want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society. 29”
― Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

“Those who believe without reason cannot be convinced by reason.”
― James Randi

“Philosophy is but sophisticated poetry.”
― Michel de Montaigne, Apology for Raymond Sebond