To discover the true principles of Morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods: They have need only of common sense.
Interpretation
Morality can be understood through rational thought rather than religious guidance.
Baron D'Holbach's quote suggests that the essence of morality does not depend on religious teachings or divine command but rather on the inherent understanding and common sense of human beings. He emphasizes that humans possess the ability to discern right from wrong through reason and rationality, making theology unnecessary in the pursuit of moral principles.
In practice
In a debate about ethics, one might use this quote to argue against the necessity of religious morals.
Suns are extinguished or become corrupted, planets perish and scatter across the wastes of the sky; other suns are kindled, new planets formed to make their revolutions or describe new orbits, and man, an infinitely minute part of a globe which itself is only an imperceptible point in the immense whole, believes that the universe is made for himself.
People have suffered and become insane for centuries by the thought of eternal punishment after death. Wouldn't it be better to depend on blind matter... than a god who puts out traps for people, invites them to sin, and allows them to sin and commit crimes he could prevent. Only to finally get the barbarian pleasure to punish them in an excessive way, of no use for himself, without them changing their ways and without their example preventing others from committing crimes.
Tolerance and freedom of thought are the veritable antidotes to religious fanaticism.
If we go back to the beginnings of things, we shall always find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that imagination, rapture and deception embellished them; that weakness worships them; that custom spares them; and that tyranny favors them in order to profit from the blindness of men.
Without justice and love, peace will always be a great illusion.
I have always grappled with the fact that the truth cannot be packaged into one soul or one mind alone. It is something fragmented: there is so much to it; the truth is varied and scattered across the world.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Many people find it easy to imagine unseen webs of malevolent conspiracy in the world, and they are not always wrong. But there is also an innocence that conspires to hold humanity together, and it is made of people who can never fully know the good that they have done.
Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life.
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