Poetry Must Have Something In It That

Disturbances In Society Are Never More Fearful Than When Those Who Are Stirring Up The Trouble Can Use The Pretext Of Religion To Mask Their True Designs.

There Is Only One Duty; That Is To Be Happy.

It Seems To Me That If One Had Kept Silence Up To Now Regarding Religion, People Would Still Be Submerged In The Most Grotesque And Dangerous Superstition ... Regarding Government, We Would Still Be Groaning Under The Bonds Of Feudal Government ... Regarding Morals, We Would Still Be Having To Learn What Is Virtue And What Is Vice. To Forbid All These Discussions, The Only Ones Worthy Of Occupying A Good Mind, Is To Perpetuate The Reign Of Ignorance And Barbarism.

This Root [the Potato], No Matter How Much You Prepare It, Is Tasteless And Floury. It Cannot Pass For An Agreeable Food, But It Supplies A Food Sufficiently Abundant And Sufficiently Healthy For Men Who Ask Only To Sustain Themselves. The Potato Is Criticized With Reason For Being Windy, But What Matters Windiness For The Vigorous Organisms Of Peasants And Laborers?

They Mistake The First Manifestations Of A Developing Sexual Nature For The Voice Of God Calling Them To Himself; And It Is Precisely When Nature Is Inciting Them That They Embrace A Fashion Of Life Contrary To Nature's Wish.