Moses Mendelssohn

“Adapt yourselves to the morals and the constitution of the country in which you are placed; but be steadfast to the religion of your fathers.”

“The state has physical power and uses it when necessary; the power of religion is love and beneficence.”

“Reason can be fought with reason. Sentiments can only be fought with sentiments.”

“Man is not accountable for his thoughts, only for his actions.”

“My brethren, if you care for true piety, let us not feign agreement where diversity is evidently the plan and purpose of Providence.”

“To persecute a man for his religious opinions is to deny the fundamental principles of humanity.”

“Without a God, without a world governed by goodness, without a providence, and without an immortality, the whole of morality falls to the ground.”

“Prejudices are not easily eradicated from the minds of men.”

“The true happiness of a nation consists not in the greatness of its possessions but in the greatness of its people.”

“The purpose of man is to achieve perfection.”

“The first step towards wisdom is to be silent; the second is to listen.”

“Seek truth and freedom, and you will not find them in any single system of thought.”

“The state is to me an institution of man, a means to human felicity.”

“Let every man be persuaded in his own mind.”

“Religion is not a matter of coercion, but of conviction.”