“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
— Thomas Paine (1743-1826); https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine
There are two instruments for confirming or impugning every thing, reason and authority {Duo sunt instrumenta ad omnes res aut confirmandas aut impugnandas, ratio et authoritas}; Nothing against reason is lawful {Nihil quod est contra rationem est licitum; Coke, Litt. 97}; Reason is a ray of divine light {Ratio est radius divini luminis}; Reason and authority, the two brightest lights in the world {Ratio et auctoritas, duo clarissima mundi lumina};