"To deny the evidence of one's own eyes, and to prefer to believe a doctrine which is contrary to all experience, shows a mind that is either very dull or very prejudiced."

"I do not think it is necessary to believe that the same God who gave us our senses, our reason, and our intellect, also intended us to forego their use."

"It is not necessary to examine all the arguments against a position, but only the strongest."

"I consider the sun's axial rotation to be an excellent argument for the diurnal rotation of the earth."

"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought not to begin at the authority of places of Scripture, but at sensible experiments and necessary demonstrations."