Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.

To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.

The mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.

The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.

The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.

I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.

The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science.

Men willingly believe what they wish.