Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them

Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity- these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them.

I could have become a soldier if I had waited; I knew more about retreating than the man who invented retreating

He gossips habitually; he lacks the common wisdom to keep still that deadly enemy of man, his own tongue

Nature makes the locust with an appetite for crops; man would have made him with an appetite for sand

Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made (man) is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one... that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain.