"Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true."

"For the mind of man is far from the nature of a clear and unruffled mirror, but is rather like an enchanted glass, full of superstition and imposture, if it be not with judgment and industry regulated…"

"The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, and not when it misses."

"The greatest impediment to knowledge is the presumption of knowledge."

"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all the…"