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It has been asserted, that a moral Atheist would be a monster beyond the power of nature to create: I reply, that it is not more strange for an Atheist to live virtuously, than for a Christian to abandon himself to crime! If we believe the last kind of monster, why dispute the existence of the first?

Pierre Bayle

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Pierre Bayle
Age: 59 †
Born: 1647
Born: November 18
Died: 1706
Died: December 28
Historian
Journalist
Lexicographer
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Professor
Theologian
Writer
Carla-le-Comte (devenue Carla-Bayle)
Peter Bayle
C L A A P D P
Monsieur C. L. A. A. P. D. P.
Firsts
Existence
Abandon
First
Moral
Monsters
Kind
Lasts
Atheist
Virtuously
Believe
Last
Atheism
Asserted
Would
Christian
Crime
Dispute
Nature
Beyond
Reply
Power
Strange
Disputes
Live
Create
Monster

More quotes by Pierre Bayle

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The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.
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Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.
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It is only common prejudice that induces us to believe that atheism is a fearful state.
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In matters of religion, it is very easy to deceive a man and very hard to undeceive him.
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The movement of comets is part of the ordinary works of nature which, without regard to the happiness or misery of mankind, are transported from one part of the heavens to another by virtue of the general laws of motion.
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The furnace of affliction refines us from earthly drossiness, and softens us for the impression of God's own stamp.
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I am a good Protestant, and in the full sense of the term, for from the bottom of my soul, I protest against everything that is said, and everything that is done.
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I get up and retire when I wish. I go out if I wish and I do not go out if I do not desire to do so, except for the two days on which I give lectures.
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It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance that is the source of disorder and squabbling.
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No nations are more warlike than those which profess Christianity.
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I know too much to be a sceptic and too little to be a dogmatist.
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There was no other God, religion, or lawful magistracy, than conscience, which teaches all men the precepts of Justice, to do no injury, to live honestly, and give everyone his due.
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