Adam Weishaupt
Adam Weishaupt
Johann Adam Weishaupt was a German philosopher and founder of the Order of the Illuminati, a secret society...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth6 February 1748
CityIngolstadt, Germany
CountryGermany
together unions secrecy
We see with what keenness and zeal the frivolous business of Freemasons is conducted, by persons knit together by the secrecy of their union.
believe men demise
Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe?
christian religious mean
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.
believe mean men
Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe?. Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery.The hankering of the mind is irresistible.
nature men gone
When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished.
mean illumination clouds
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.
mean men knowing
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.
lying order names
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.
happiness mean illumination
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.