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
century entirely french-philosopher generation passes
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.
applying author finds french-philosopher less nor rightly
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.
diversity tolerance brotherhood
It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance that is the source of disorder and squabbling.
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.
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.
christian atheist believe
It has been asserted, that a moral Atheist would be a monster beyond the power of nature to create: I reply, that it is not more strange for an Atheist to live virtuously, than for a Christian to abandon himself to crime! If we believe the last kind of monster, why dispute the existence of the first?
acceptance opinion assurance
The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.
law heaven atheism
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.
race crime humans
Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.
doctors wrath people
Do you doubt that the least effects of nature were not used as marks of the wrath of heaven? It was to the interest of pontiffs, priests, and augurs, as much as it is to the interest of lawyers and doctors that there should be lawsuits and sickness. No wonder they took care that the people should not grow slack in their religion.
atheism advancement wells
I lay down the Position, That whatever a Conscience well directed allows us to do for the Advancement of Truth, an erroneous Conscience will warrant for advancing a suppos'd Truth.
soul done said
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.
stars lying miscarriage
Consider, I pray, whether you are not renouncing all shame and sincerity to advance such principles. Because a comet appears in a group of stars which the ancients thought fit to call the Virgin, therefore, shall our women be barren, or have frequent miscarriages, or die old maids. I know of nothing which hangs so ill together! To offer such things in seriousness, shows the greatest contempt of mankind, and the most scandalous lying impunity.
religious evil christianity
No nations are more warlike than those which profess Christianity.