Quotations XXX

But as some people do like quotations and think they can be useful in succinctly communicating an opinion, we will publish a selection occasionally, mostly but not entirely relevant. This is the thirtieth in an ongoing series.

1. A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets. Arthur C. Clarke

2. To regard Christ as God, and to pray to him, are to my mind the greatest possible sacrilege. Leo Tolstoy

3. I believe that the future of mankind lies in the progress of reason through science. I believe that the pursuit of truth through science is the divine ideal to which man should aspire. I believe that all is illusion and vanity which is not among the treasures of verifiable truth that must slowly be acquired. I believe that the sum of those truths which are bound to increase continually will eventually give man incalculable power and equanimity, if not happiness. Emil Zola

4. One of the proofs of the immortality of the soul is that myriads have believed it. They also believed the world was flat. Mark Twain

5. Political or religious dissenters are the plague of every totalitarian regime. William O Douglas

6. By the year 2000, we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God. Gloria Steinem

7. If they chased every man or woman out of this town who has shacked up with someone else or got drunk, there wouldn’t be any government left in Washington. Barry Goldwater

8. TV evangelists say they don’t favor any particular denomination, but I think we’ve all seen their eyes light up at tens and twenties. Dennis Miller

9. As to the gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like. Protagoras

10. I am determined that my children shall be brought up in their father’s religion, if they can find out what it is. Charles Lamb

11. Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense. Mark Twain

12. No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up. Lily Tomlin

13. The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people. Benito Mussolini

14. Most of my friends are not Christians, but I have some who are Anglicans or Roman Catholics. Dame Rose Macauley

15. I detest converts almost as much as I do missionaries. H.L. Mencken

16. Popular religion may be summed up as a respect for ecclesiastics. Baruch Spinoza

17. I do not know of any salvation for society except through eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, people who protest. William O Douglas

18. Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it. John Adams

19. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Isaac Asimov

20. I find that the further I go back, the better things were, whether they happened or not. Mark Twain