Adam Weishaupt Quotes & Sayings

My general plan is good, though in the detail there may be faults. — Adam Weishaupt

Morality will perform all this; and Morality is the fruit of Illumination. — Adam Weishaupt

I declare and I challenge all mankind to contradict my declaration, that no man can give any account of the order of Freemasonry, of its origin, of its history, of its object, nor any explanation of its mysteries and symbols, which does not leave the mind in total uncertainty on all these points. Every man is entitled therefore, to give any explanation of the symbols and a system of the doctrine that he can render palatable. — Adam Weishaupt

G is Grace, the Flaming Star is the Torch of Reason. Those who possess this knowledge are indeed Illuminati. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

We must win the common people in every corner. This will be obtained chiefly by means of the schools, and by open, hearty behavior, show, condescension, popularity, and toleration of their prejudices, which we shall at leisure root out and dispel. — Adam Weishaupt

Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe? — Adam Weishaupt

The first task of the association must therefore be to form the young members. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

But 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 feasable, a speedy prospect of universal happiness, in a state of liberty and moral equality, freed from the obstacles which subordination, rank, and riches, continually throw in our way. My explanation is accurate and complete, my means are effectual, and irresistable. Our secret association works in a way that nothing can withstand, and man shall soon be free and happy. — Adam Weishaupt

There is no way of influencing men so powerfully as by means of the women. These should therefore be our chief study; we should insinuate ourselves into their good opinion, give them hints of emancipation from the tyranny of public opinion, and of standing up for themselves; it will be an immense relief to their enslaved minds to be freed from any one bond of restraint, and it will fire them the more, and cause them to work for us with zeal, without knowing that they do so; for they will only be indulging their own desire of personal admiration. — Adam Weishaupt

Salvation does not lie where strong thrones are defended by swords, where the smoke of censers ascend to heaven or where thousands of strong men pace the rich fields of harvest. The revolution which is about to break will be sterile if it is not complete. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

Who would imagine that I was to be the founder of a new religion. — Adam Weishaupt

The hankering of the mind is irresistible. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

The great strength of our Order lies in its concealment; let it never appear in any place in its own name but always covered by another name and another occupation. None is fitter than the three lower degrees of Freemasonry; the public is accustomed to it, expects little from it and therefore takes little notice of it. — Adam Weishaupt

The human race will then become one family, and the world will be the dwelling of Rational Men. — Adam Weishaupt

I am proud to be known to the world as the founder of the Illuminati. — Adam Weishaupt

Illuminate the opposition. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

A Literary Society is the most proper form for the introduction of our Order into any state where we are yet strangers. — Adam Weishaupt

It is necessary to gain the common people to our order. The best means to that end is influence in the schools. — Adam Weishaupt

I did not bring Deism into Bavaria. — Adam Weishaupt

By establishing reading societies, and subscription libraries, and taking these under our direction, and supplying them through our labors, we may turn the public mind which way we will. — Adam Weishaupt

When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

For the Order wishes to be secret and to work in silence; for thus it is better secured from the oppression of the ruling powers, and because this secrecy gives a greater zest to the whole. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

If a writer publishes any thing that attracts notice, and is in itself just, but does not accord with our plan, we must endeavour to win him over, or decry him. — Adam Weishaupt

We see with what keenness and zeal the frivolous business of Freemasons is conducted, by persons knit together by the secrecy of their union. — Adam Weishaupt

Nothing would be more profitable to us than a right history of mankind. — Adam Weishaupt

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. — Adam Weishaupt

Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery. — Adam Weishaupt