Pierre Bayle

There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.

Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.

It is pure illusion to think that an opinion that passes down from century to century, from generation to generation, may not be entirely false.

There is not less wit nor less invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of that thought.

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.

I know too much to be a sceptic and too little to be a dogmatist.

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.

It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance that is the source of disorder and squabbling.

The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.