“The gods of men are sillier than their kings and queens, and emptier and more powerless.”
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.
The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.
When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.
Respect the gods and the devils but keep them at a distance.
Linnaeus and cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old aristotle.
The gods, not out of mercy, have made me strong.
We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.
The gods too are fond of a joke.
Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form, but with regard to their mode of life.