APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



i 



There is no alleviation for the sufferings of man- 

 kind except veracity of thought and of action, and 

 the resolute facing of the world as it is when the 

 garment of make-believe by which pious hands 

 have hidden its uglier features is stripped off. 



Natural knowledge, seeking to satisfy natural 

 wants, has found the ideas which can alone still 

 spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in 

 desiring to ascertain the laws of comfort, has been 

 driven to discover those of conduct, and to lay the 

 foundations of a new morality. 



The improver of natural knowledge absolutely 

 refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For 

 him, scepticism is the highest of duties ; blind faith 

 the one unpardonable sin. 



The man of science has learned to believe 

 justification, not by faith, but by verification. 



12 B 



