XXXIII.--ORIGIN OF PREJUDICES.

The brain of man is, especially in infancy, like a soft wax, ready to
receive all the impressions we wish to make on it; education furnishes
nearly all his opinions, at a period when he is incapable of judging for
himself. We believe that the ideas, true or false, which at a tender age
were forced into our heads, were received from nature at our birth; and
this persuasion is one of the greatest sources of our errors.




XXXIV.--HOW THEY TAKE ROOT AND SPREAD.

Prejudice tends to confirm in us the opinions of those who are charged
with our instruction. We believe them more skillful than we are; we
suppose them thoroughly convinced themselves of the things they teach
us. We have the greatest confidence in them. After the care they have
taken of us when we were unable to assist ourselves, we judge them
incapable of deceiving us. These are the motives which make us adopt a
thousand errors without other foundation than the dangerous word of
those who have educated us; even the being forbidden to reason upon what
they tell us, does not diminish our confidence, but contributes often to
increase our respect for their opinions.




XXXV.--MEN WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED IN THE PRINCIPLES OF MODERN THEOLOGY