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| 1. | And of all illumination which human reason can give, none is comparable to the discovery of what we are, our nature, our obligations, what happiness we are capable of, and what are the means of attaining it. |
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| 2. | But I would have executed much greater things, had not government always opposed my exertions, and placed others in situations which would have suited my talents. |
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| 3. | But alas, they are all sadly deficient, because they leave us under the domination of political and religious prejudices; and they are as inefficient as the sleepy dose of an ordinary sermon. |
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| 4. | Every man is entitled therefore, to give any explanation of the symbols and a system of the doctrine that he can render palatable. |
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| 5. | G is Grace, the Flaming Star is the Torch of Reason. Those who possess this knowledge are indeed Illuminati. |
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| 6. | Hidden schools of wisdom are the means which will one day free men from their bonds. |
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| 7. | I am proud to be known to the world as the founder of the Illuminati. |
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| 8. | I did not bring Deism into Bavaria. |
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| 9. | I have reason to rejoice that these writings have appeared. They are a vindication of the order and of my conduct. |
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| 10. | In another situation, and in an active station in life, I should have been keenly occupied, and the founding of an order would have never come into my head. |
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| 11. | It was the full conviction of this, and of what could be done, if every man were placed in the office for which he was fitted by nature and a proper education, which first suggested to me the plan of Illumination. |
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| 12. | Let this circumstance of our constitution therefore be directed to this noble purpose, and then all the objections urged against it by jealous tyranny and affrighted superstition will vanish. |
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| 13. | Morality will perform all this; and Morality is the fruit of Illumination. |
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| 14. | My general plan is good, though in the detail there may be faults. |
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| 15. | Nothing would be more profitable to us than a right history of mankind. |
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| 16. | Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery. |
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| 17. | Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe? |
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| 18. | The first task of the association must therefore be to form the young members. |
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| 19. | The hankering of the mind is irresistible. |
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| 20. | The head of every family will be what Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest and the unlettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the code of laws to all mankind. |
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| 21. | The human race will then become one family, and the world will be the dwelling of Rational Men. |
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| 22. | 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 (Illuminati) the true and genuine sense of Christian Religion. |
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| 23. | The slightest observation shows that nothing will so much contribute to increase the zeal of the members as secret union. |
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| 24. | The tenor of my life has been the opposite of everything that is vile, and no man can lay any such thing to my charge. |
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| 25. | 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. |
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| 26. | We see with what keenness and zeal the frivolous business of Freemasons is conducted, by persons knit together by the secrecy of their union. |
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| 27. | When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished. |
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