The earth was probably born by accident; but, in accordance with one of the most general laws of evolution, scarcely had this accident happened than it was immediately made use of and recast into something naturally directed.
It doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway.
Man is unable to see himself entirely unrelated to mankind, neither is he able to see mankind unrelated to life, nor life unrelated to the universe.
To discover and know has always been a deep tendency of our nature. Can we not recognize it already in caveman?
One mustn't close one's eyes to difficulty and to shortcomings; the more one recognizes them, the less they upset one.
Religion, born of the earth's need for the disclosing of a god, is related to and co-extensive with not the individual man, but the whole of mankind.