Pierre Bayle
Pierre Bayle
Pierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer best known for his seminal work the Historical and Critical Dictionary, published beginning in 1697...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 November 1647
CountryFrance
Pierre Bayle quotes about
thinking may generations
It is pure illusion to think that an opinion which passes down from century to century, from generation to generation, may not be entirely false.
reality rights atheism
Compulsion in the literal Sense is maliciously misrepresented, by supposing it authorizes Violences committed against the Truth. The Answer to this; by which it is prov'd, that the literal Sense does in reality authorize the stirring up Persecutions against the Cause of Truth, and that an erroneous Conscience has the same Rights as an enlighten'd Conscience.
men matter deceiving
In matters of religion, it is very easy to deceive a man and very hard to undeceive him.
philosophy errors stopping
Philosophy can be compared to some powders that are so corrosive that, after they have eaten away the infected flesh of a wound, they then devour the living flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philosophy at first refutes errors. But if it is not stopped at this point, it goes on to attack truths. And when it is left on its own, it goes so far that it no longer knows where it is and can find no stopping place.
men giving justice
There was no other God, religion, or lawful magistracy, than conscience, which teaches all men the precepts of Justice, to do no injury, to live honestly, and give everyone his due.
acceptance opinion assurance
The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.
weakness crime satire
If an historian were to relate truthfully all the crimes, weaknesses, and disorders of mankind, his readers would take his work for satire rather than for history.
diversity tolerance brotherhood
It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance that is the source of disorder and squabbling.
men wrath offering
So that, were it the purpose of God to produce comets as signs of his wrath it would be true to say that he is quickening a false devotion almost all over the world, increasing the number of pilgrims to Mecca, multiplying the offerings to the most famous impostors, inducing men to build mosques for Mohammedan worship, causing the invention of new superstitions among the dervishes - in a word, stimulating many abominable things which otherwise might not have been.
book firsts talent
There is not less wit nor invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of that thought. Cardinal du Perron has been heard to say that the happy application of a verse of Virgil has deserved a talent.
believe mad atheism
One must be stark mad, to believe that mankind can subsist without magistrates.
believe atheism prejudice
It is only common prejudice that induces us to believe that atheism is a fearful state.