Adam Weishaupt

“Let this circumstance of our constitution be remarked, that our superiors are known to us, but we are not known to them.”

“I have contrived an explanation which has every advantage, is inviting to Christians of every communion, gradually frees them from all religious prejudices, cultivates the social virtues and animates them by a great, a feasible, and speedy prospect of universal happiness.”

“We must win the common people in every corner.”

“I did not bring Deism into Bavaria, but I found it here in great vigour.”

“Reason will be the only code of Man. This is one of our greatest secrets.”

“This is the great object held out by this association; and the means of attaining it is illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason which will dispell the clouds of superstition and of prejudice.”

“The great strength of our Order lies in its concealment; let it never appear in any place in its own name, but always concealed by another name, and another occupation.”

“By this plan, we shall direct all mankind. In this manner, and by the simplest means, we shall set all in motion and in flames.”

“The most wonderful thing of all is that the distinguished Lutheran and Calvinist theologians who belong to our order really believe that they see in it the true and genuine sense of Christian Religion.”

“Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery.”

“Princes and Nations shall disappear from the face of the Earth. They shall be no more; and this Revolution shall be the work of the Secret Societies.”

“My general plan is good, though in the detail I may have been mistaken.”

“If it is an art to be able to govern men, it is a much greater art to be able to enlighten them.”

“The pupils are convinced that the Order will rule the world. Every member therefore becomes a ruler.”