Cesare Beccaria

“ THERE is a palpable contradiction between the laws and the natural sentiments of mankind, in the case of oaths, which are administered to a criminal to make him speak the truth, when the contrary is his greatest interest. As if a man could think himself obliged to contribute to his own destruction ”

“ The motives which religion opposes to the fear of impending evil, and the love of life, are too weak, as they are too distant, to make any impression on the senses. The affairs of the other world are regulated by laws entirely different from those by which human affairs are directed ”