M.

“It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a god would choose for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey.”
― Robert Green Ingersoll, Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel

“Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers: It is the only prayer that deserves an answer—good, honest, noble work. ”
― Robert G. Ingersoll

“When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense