{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). 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McElvaine", "slug": "robert-s-mcelvaine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-mcelvaine" }, "book": { "title": "Grand Theft Jesus", "slug": "grand-theft-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-mcelvaine/grand-theft-jesus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 53, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_S._McElvaine#Grand_Theft_Jesus:_The_Hijacking_of_Religion_in_America_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:55" }, { "id": "c4d42b2e-f5a8-4b24-89c1-b15407bfd7ae", "slug": "drawing-distinctions-between", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/1q84/drawing-distinctions-between", "text": "Drawing distinctions between religions and cults has always been a delicate business. There’s no hard and fast definition. Interpretation is everything. And where there is room for interpretation, there is always room for political persuasion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "1Q84", "slug": "1q84", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/1q84" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 184, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/1Q84#Book_1_(April-June)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:38" }, { "id": "f5914e99-228d-44e0-bcd6-b249dc6acf87", "slug": "we-had-no-ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadia-murad/the-last-girl/we-had-no-ambition", "text": "We had no ambition for more land or power, and nothing in the religion commands us to conquer non-Yazidis and spread our faith.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nadia Murad", "slug": "nadia-murad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadia-murad" }, "book": { "title": "The Last Girl", "slug": "the-last-girl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadia-murad/the-last-girl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nadia_Murad#The_Last_Girl:_My_Story_of_Captivity,_and_My_Fight_Against_the_Islamic_State", "license": { "label": 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Allen Paulos", "slug": "john-allen-paulos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos" }, "book": { "title": "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper", "slug": "a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 198, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Allen_Paulos#A_Mathematician_Reads_the_Newspaper_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": 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The churches pay his salary, so he doesn’t want anyone rocking the boat with unorthodox rumours.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "Absolution Gap", "slug": "absolution-gap", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/absolution-gap" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 441, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Absolution_Gap_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:39" }, { "id": "9f736b57-f277-4709-82aa-f63adca20576", "slug": "looks-didnt-last", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope/looks-didnt-last", "text": "Looks didn’t last forever and she wasn’t ready for religion yet. Money was kind of a good compromise, staked up somewhere between cosmetics and eternity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward St Aubyn", "slug": "edward-st-aubyn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn" }, "book": { "title": "Some Hope", "slug": "some-hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "appearance", "slug": "appearance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_St._Aubyn#Chapter_7", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:35" }, { "id": "15f68e52-1cae-4f00-92f1-d97d92db9044", "slug": "the-sages-it-is-often", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy/the-sages-it-is-often", "text": "The sages, it is often said, can see no answer to the riddle of religion. But the trouble with our sages is not that they cannot see the answer; it is that they cannot even see the riddle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Orthodoxy", "slug": "orthodoxy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)#Chapter_III._%22The_Suicide_of_Thought%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:12" }, { "id": "4650b7ee-2045-4c4d-970a-4f65c6d4c5b8", "slug": "my-spiritual-education-took", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/my-spiritual-education-took", "text": "My spiritual education...took place at a Unitarian Church...The theme was \"many paths to the truth.\" …even the inconsistencies were illuminating. It became apparent to me that the basic truths were profound enough to transcend apparent contradictions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Kurzweil", "slug": "ray-kurzweil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil" }, "book": { "title": "The Singularity Is Near", "slug": "the-singularity-is-near", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 1, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#The_Singularity_Is_Near:_When_Humans_Transcend_Biology_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:55" }, { "id": "362746ff-6644-45db-9c9f-7fdee0f29100", "slug": "make-religion-attractive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/make-religion-attractive", "text": "Make religion attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promises true good.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_III:_On_the_Necessity_of_the_Wager_(184-241)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:48" }, { "id": "00c21f28-3d1b-4deb-8fa5-add8cc3ae725", "slug": "tolerance-should-be-given", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-social-contract/tolerance-should-be-given", "text": "tolerance should be given to all religions that tolerate others, so long as their dogmas contain nothing contrary to the duties of citizenship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "The Social Contract", "slug": "the-social-contract", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-social-contract" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:45" }, { "id": "1b37ec7e-a469-4dba-956b-15258372671d", "slug": "ireland-is-unique", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization/ireland-is-unique", "text": "Ireland is unique in religious history for being the only land into which Christianity was introduced without bloodshed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Cahill", "slug": "thomas-cahill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill" }, "book": { "title": "How the Irish Saved Civilization", "slug": "how-the-irish-saved-civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Cahill#How_the_Irish_Saved_Civilization_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:40" }, { "id": "ca257be8-b7ea-4f56-a351-f6c56513845f", "slug": "as-he-silently", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/the-dragonbone-chair/as-he-silently", "text": "As he silently approached the last float, a latticework ball of reeds, he offered an unspoken prayer to He Who Always Steps on Sand that even now the little bottom-walkers were pushing and shoving their way into the cage below. Because of his unusual education, which included a year living on Perdruin—unheard of for a Wrannaman—Tiamak did not really believe in He Who Always Steps on Sand anymore, but he still held a fondness for him, such as might be felt for a senile grandfather who often tumbled down from the house, but once brought nuts and carved toys. Besides, it never hurt to pray, even if one did not believe in the object of prayer. It helped to compose the mind, and, at the very least, it impressed others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tad Williams", "slug": "tad-williams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams" }, "book": { "title": "The Dragonbone Chair", "slug": "the-dragonbone-chair", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/the-dragonbone-chair" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 447, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tad_Williams#The_Dragonbone_Chair_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:28" }, { "id": "1d8ac20e-b632-4485-a425-81e1968bef00", "slug": "like-christianity-buddhism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill/plagues-and-peoples/like-christianity-buddhism", "text": "Like Christianity, Buddhism explained suffering. In forms that established themselves in China, Buddhism offered the same sort of comfort to bereaved survivors and victims of violence or of disease as Christian faith did in the Roman world. Buddhism of course originated in India, where disease incidence was probably always very high as compared with civilizations based in cooler climates; Christianity, too, took shape in the urban environments of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria where the incidence of infectious disease was certainly very high as compared to conditions in cooler and less crowded places. From their inception, therefore, both faiths had to deal with sudden death by disease as one of the conspicuous facts of human life. Consequently, it is not altogether surprising that both religions taught that death was a release from pain, and a blessed avenue of entry upon a delightful afterlife where loved ones would be reunited, and earthly injustices and pains amply compensated for.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William H. McNeill", "slug": "william-h-mcneill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill" }, "book": { "title": "Plagues and Peoples", "slug": "plagues-and-peoples", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill/plagues-and-peoples" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_H._McNeill#Plagues_and_Peoples_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:27" }, { "id": "dd64c9b2-b37e-46ad-8145-027f045582ae", "slug": "of-course-i-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olaf-stapledon/sirius/of-course-i-dont", "text": "Of course I don't want the old religious dope. But I don't want just the new science dope either. I want the truth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Olaf Stapledon", "slug": "olaf-stapledon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olaf-stapledon" }, "book": { "title": "Sirius", "slug": "sirius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olaf-stapledon/sirius" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon#Sirius_(1944)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:18" }, { "id": "c6cacbc4-79f6-4d19-8a44-f74a4bf2a887", "slug": "but-each-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire/but-each-man", "text": "But each man who worships you sees only what he wishes to see rather than any mystery you may actually embody.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Bishop", "slug": "michael-bishop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop" }, "book": { "title": "A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire", "slug": "a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 113, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "self-deception", "slug": "self-deception-2", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-deception-2" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Bishop#A_Funeral_for_the_Eyes_of_Fire_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:04" }, { "id": "fa42b37d-bac1-4cd0-a0a4-a73c0af11b72", "slug": "amazing-grace-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson/empire/amazing-grace-is-the", "text": "‘Amazing Grace’ is the supreme hymn of Evangelical redemption….It is therefore tempting to imagine John Newton suddenly seeing the light about slavery and turning away from his wicked profession to dedicate himself to God. But the timing of Newton’s conversion is all wrong. In fact, it was after his religious awakening that Newton became the first mate and then the captain of a succession of slave ships, and only much later that he began to question the morality of buying and selling his fellow men and women.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niall Ferguson", "slug": "niall-ferguson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson" }, "book": { "title": "Empire", "slug": "empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson/empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 78, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson#Empire:_How_Britain_Made_the_Modern_World_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:02" }, { "id": "c52bffc5-c967-4c1b-9275-a62c617a2dca", "slug": "religion-and-it-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan/war-how-conflict-shaped-us/religion-and-it-can", "text": "Religion, and it can merge into nationalism as orthodoxy does with the Serbs and the Russians, offers both a cause worth dying for and the promise of eternal life. The crusaders did not leave their homes all over Europe and make the long and dangerous journey to the Holy Land just to acquire loot and land. There was more and better to be had much closer to home. They were driven by what they thought was a divine mission, to retrieve the land where Christ had once lived for Christendom. Many crusaders – kings such as Richard I of England, the Lionheart, and Philip II of France and great landed magnates – left behind properties, position and families and many never returned. Egged on by religious leaders such as Pope Gregory VII, who reminded the faithful of the passage from the Book of Jeremiah ‘Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood’, they killed indiscriminately those they thought of as infidels. In the massacres in Jerusalem in 1099 the streets were said to have run with blood, in some places up to the knees of the crusaders’ horses. ‘None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared,’ said a contemporary account.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Margaret MacMillan", "slug": "margaret-macmillan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan" }, "book": { "title": "War: How Conflict Shaped Us", "slug": "war-how-conflict-shaped-us", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan/war-how-conflict-shaped-us" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nationalism", "slug": "nationalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nationalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_MacMillan#War:_How_Conflict_Shaped_Us_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:59" }, { "id": "5d1d8fb4-307e-4666-81bc-0e996924efc8", "slug": "today-of-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan/war-how-conflict-shaped-us/today-of-course", "text": "Today of course we have religious wars again and the targets are again without limit until the final goal is achieved. Sadly even wars which are meant to be about ending war itself take on that limitless character. If the purpose is to remove for ever the scourge of war, then whatever atrocities and cruelties are committed in its name will be justified because the sacrifice is surely worth it. In the lead-up to the Thirty Years War radical Calvinists, espousing an extreme form of Protestantism, came to believe that the Habsburg monarchy was the force of darkness which must be eradicated before the righteous could be saved. When the radicals in the French Revolution prepared to wage war on Europe it was for earthly salvation. As one revolutionary said in 1791, ‘It is because I want peace that I am asking for war.’ The enemy, as in religious wars, becomes the enemy of humanity itself and must be utterly destroyed not merely defeated.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Margaret MacMillan", "slug": "margaret-macmillan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan" }, "book": { "title": "War: How Conflict Shaped Us", "slug": "war-how-conflict-shaped-us", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-macmillan/war-how-conflict-shaped-us" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_MacMillan#War:_How_Conflict_Shaped_Us_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:59" }, { "id": "eef7df07-a601-4548-a547-f60012af09bd", "slug": "religion-humanizes-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-art-of-seduction/religion-humanizes-this", "text": "Religion humanizes this universe, makes us feel important and loved. We are not animals governed by uncontrollable drives, animals that die for no apparent reason, but creatures made in the image of supreme being.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Greene", "slug": "robert-greene", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene" }, "book": { "title": "The Art of Seduction", "slug": "the-art-of-seduction", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-art-of-seduction" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Greene_(American_author)#The_Art_of_Seduction_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:58" }, { "id": "a34cd0da-795d-4d1b-b902-8c8bbf3675fc", "slug": "religion-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-art-of-seduction/religion-is-the", "text": "Religion is the great balm of existence because it takes us outside ourselves, connects us to something larger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Greene", "slug": "robert-greene", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene" }, "book": { "title": "The Art of Seduction", "slug": "the-art-of-seduction", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-art-of-seduction" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Greene_(American_author)#The_Art_of_Seduction_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:58" }, { "id": "9e17ddea-2556-4ec8-a094-c381672ef4ec", "slug": "men-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-dance-with-dragons/men-do-not", "text": "Men do not give up their gods so easily.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Dance with Dragons", "slug": "a-dance-with-dragons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-dance-with-dragons" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Dance_with_Dragons_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:55" }, { "id": "c53e6df5-d446-45b1-a4ea-dba3cca3cea8", "slug": "making-mock-of-another", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-dance-with-dragons/making-mock-of-another", "text": "Making mock of another man's prayer is fool's work.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Dance with Dragons", "slug": "a-dance-with-dragons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-dance-with-dragons" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" }, { "name": "respect", "slug": "respect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/respect" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Dance_with_Dragons_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:54" }, { "id": "cd6ee992-449f-4b4f-898e-40926b5c03c7", "slug": "where-religions-fail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell/the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism/where-religions-fail", "text": "Where religions fail, cults appear.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel A. Bell", "slug": "daniel-a-bell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell" }, "book": { "title": "The Cultural Contradictions Of Capitalism", "slug": "the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell/the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 168, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Bell#The_Cultural_Contradictions_of_Capitalism_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:13" }, { "id": "a3a67cb4-e5a9-4ec7-bb96-f8b8379e6125", "slug": "religions-grow-out", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell/the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism/religions-grow-out", "text": "Religions grow out of the deepest needs of individuals sharing a common awakening, and are not created by \"engineers of the soul.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel A. Bell", "slug": "daniel-a-bell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell" }, "book": { "title": "The Cultural Contradictions Of Capitalism", "slug": "the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-a-bell/the-cultural-contradictions-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Bell#The_Cultural_Contradictions_of_Capitalism_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:13" }, { "id": "f6ab0462-eeb0-484b-967d-500bd3b35be4", "slug": "the-one-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong/the-spiral-staircase/the-one-and", "text": "The one and only test of a valid religious idea, doctrinal statement, spiritual experience, or devotional practice was that it must lead directly to practical compassion. If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express this sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, or self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God's name, it was bad theology. Compassion was the litmus test for the prophets of Israel, for the rabbis of the Talmud, for Jesus, for Paul, and for Muhammad, not to mention Confucius, Lao-tsu, the Buddha, or the sages of the Upanishads.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karen Armstrong", "slug": "karen-armstrong", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong" }, "book": { "title": "The Spiral Staircase", "slug": "the-spiral-staircase", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong/the-spiral-staircase" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "compassion", "slug": "compassion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong#The_Spiral_Staircase:_My_Climb_Out_of_Darkness_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:32" }, { "id": "109c1174-ba93-455b-9725-14a35760d402", "slug": "religion-is-hard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong/the-case-for-god/religion-is-hard", "text": "Religion is hard work. Its insights are not self-evident and have to be cultivated in the same way as an appreciation of art, music, or poetry must be developed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karen Armstrong", "slug": "karen-armstrong", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong" }, "book": { "title": "The Case for God", "slug": "the-case-for-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-armstrong/the-case-for-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong#The_Case_for_God_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:32" }, { "id": "1f2d5921-3089-4f4c-a857-571a02dbf822", "slug": "a-religious-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/h-beam-piper/the-complete-paratime/a-religious-war", "text": "A religious war, the vilest form an essentially vile business can take.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H. Beam Piper", "slug": "h-beam-piper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/h-beam-piper" }, "book": { "title": "The Complete Paratime", "slug": "the-complete-paratime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/h-beam-piper/the-complete-paratime" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 385, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._Beam_Piper#The_Complete_Paratime_(1947-1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:22" }, { "id": "91787ffc-a56e-4073-979f-2382eaaa74d3", "slug": "the-serf-is-essentially", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/the-wretched-of-the-earth/the-serf-is-essentially", "text": "The serf is essentially different from the knight, but a reference to divine right is needed to justify this difference in status.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frantz Fanon", "slug": "frantz-fanon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon" }, "book": { "title": "The Wretched of the Earth", "slug": "the-wretched-of-the-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/the-wretched-of-the-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frantz_Fanon#The_Wretched_of_the_Earth_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:01" }, { "id": "4bc82fbe-f315-45ff-ab66-f5f604cdc4b9", "slug": "ecosystems-majorly-shape", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-sapolsky/behave/ecosystems-majorly-shape", "text": "Ecosystems majorly shape culture — but then that culture can be exported and persist in radically different places for millennia. Stated most straightforwardly, most of earth’s humans have inherited their beliefs about the nature of birth and death and everything in between and thereafter from preliterate Middle Eastern pastoralists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Sapolsky", "slug": "robert-m-sapolsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-sapolsky" }, "book": { "title": "Behave", "slug": "behave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-sapolsky/behave" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 313, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky#Behave:_The_Biology_of_Humans_at_Our_Best_and_Worst_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:55" }, { "id": "b7e78acf-afdd-4f93-b5b4-faa981f98ddd", "slug": "voluntary-self-directed-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/voluntary-self-directed-religion", "text": "Voluntary self-directed religion was more dangerous to the Church than any number of infidels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara W. Tuchman", "slug": "barbara-w-tuchman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman" }, "book": { "title": "A Distant Mirror", "slug": "a-distant-mirror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 487, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the church", "slug": "the-church", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-church" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:53" }, { "id": "8f228dc8-1b54-4721-883b-11c4b5b9eb83", "slug": "that-conflict-between", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/that-conflict-between", "text": "That conflict between the reach for the divine and the lure of earthly things was to be the central problem of the Middle Ages.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara W. Tuchman", "slug": "barbara-w-tuchman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman" }, "book": { "title": "A Distant Mirror", "slug": "a-distant-mirror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 6, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:52" }, { "id": "5f5a9a79-6657-4045-86ce-870a0adf3d6f", "slug": "there-is-no-theology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/the-city-the-city/there-is-no-theology", "text": "There is no theology so desperate that you can’t find it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "China Miéville", "slug": "china-mieville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville" }, "book": { "title": "The City & The City", "slug": "the-city-the-city", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/the-city-the-city" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/China_Mi%C3%A9ville#The_City_%26_the_City_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:51" }, { "id": "67ea72d6-c1fc-4cb7-8a7f-7045ddb1baab", "slug": "i-heard-too", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/i-heard-too", "text": "I heard too many answers, I met too many gods. Abroad they call on Christ, but if you fare southward long enough it is Muhammad; and eastward it is Gautama Buddha, save where they say the world is a dream of Brahm, or offer to a host of gods and ghosts and elves like ours in these Northlands. And almost every man I asked told me that his folk know the truth while the rest are benighted. Could I but hear a word I felt even half sure of—", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Boat of a Million Years", "slug": "the-boat-of-a-million-years", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 103, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:47" }, { "id": "00242eda-499f-432d-ac35-f443c2797be3", "slug": "curious-how-quickly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/curious-how-quickly", "text": "Curious, how quickly tyrants grow religious. It must that be convenient to tell yourself that your murders belong to the Almighty instead.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Oathbringer", "slug": "oathbringer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 267, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Oathbringer_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:38" }, { "id": "bba34092-f6a7-4d43-a983-6550ce3c78b8", "slug": "all-conflicts-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/all-conflicts-are", "text": "“All conflicts are essentially economic in nature…Money is behind every war,” Au-nak continued. “Religion is but an excuse. Or perhaps a justification.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 753, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "b50b19f2-7acd-4f9c-ae81-f7e7e6346a3f", "slug": "i-hadnt-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/i-hadnt-thought", "text": "“I hadn’t thought to find ardents who were willing to question their own beliefs.”\n\nJasnah raised an eyebrow. “You will find wise men in any religion, Shallan, and good men in every nation. Those who truly seek wisdom are those who will acknowledge the virtue in their adversaries and who will learn from those who disabuse them of error. All others—heretic, Vorin, Ysperist, or Maakian—are equally close-minded.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 681, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "96b085f9-d33e-468f-8d23-f718870a91f5", "slug": "men-in-power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/men-in-power", "text": "“Men in power always pretend things like virtue, or divine guidance, some kind of mandate to ‘protect’ the rest of us. If we believe that the Almighty put them were they are, it’s easier for us to swallow what they do to us.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 832, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "3624a36d-3ac8-4520-b860-ab903a9eb75a", "slug": "men-were-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/men-were-not", "text": "Men were not in command of their own religious paths; the priests control the doctrine, and few members of the Church were allowed to know theology. They were taught to follow the priests. Not the Almighty or the Heralds, but the priests.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 285, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "abfb6703-7ed8-4db1-a175-f689128c46cd", "slug": "im-suspicious-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-p-donleavy/ginger-man/im-suspicious-about", "text": "\"I'm suspicious about people interested in saving other people's souls.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. P. Donleavy", "slug": "j-p-donleavy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-p-donleavy" }, "book": { "title": "Ginger Man", "slug": "ginger-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-p-donleavy/ginger-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 214, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._P._Donleavy#The_Ginger_Man_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:32" }, { "id": "a7d1e420-4426-463c-8414-6cc0abdfb056", "slug": "the-only-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees/the-only-thing", "text": "The only thing of weight that can be said against modern Honour is, that it is directly opposite to Religion. The one bids you bear Injuries with Patience, the other tells you if you don't resent them, you are not fit to live.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bernard Mandeville", "slug": "bernard-mandeville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville" }, "book": { "title": "The Fable of the Bees", "slug": "the-fable-of-the-bees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 245, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "patience", "slug": "patience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/patience" }, { "name": "honour", "slug": "honour", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Mandeville#The_Fable_of_the_Bees_(1714)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:27" }, { "id": "8b971a69-685f-4a45-a0c2-749711cf2187", "slug": "buddhists-and-christians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-empson/the-complete-poems/buddhists-and-christians", "text": "Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death\n\nMaking death their ideal basis for different ideals.\n\nThe Communists however disapprove of death\n\nExcept when practical.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Empson", "slug": "william-empson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-empson" }, "book": { "title": "The Complete Poems", "slug": "the-complete-poems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-empson/the-complete-poems" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 78, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Empson#The_Complete_Poems", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:25" }, { "id": "fe6cd58c-8909-478b-94be-1994c890f524", "slug": "the-starting-point", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/the-starting-point", "text": "The starting point is the recognition that throughout history, religion has been a cause of bloodshed, and it remains so today. Because religion has contributed to the world's problems, it must develop specific and practical ways to help solve those problems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 180, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "74e67000-65d4-494f-8dd9-e3014fc3f143", "slug": "but-the-public", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/but-the-public", "text": "But the public display of religion is not God. We do not put God in our nation's life by placing the Ten Commandments in courthouses, nor do we evict God by removing the Ten Commandments from public property. God is not portable. Bland prayers, offered as noncontroversial formalities after the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance do little to honor God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 66, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "562ae67f-f3eb-4f31-9070-d10b8b069779", "slug": "plenty-of-kind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/plenty-of-kind", "text": "Plenty of kind, decent, caring people have no religious beliefs, and they act out of the goodness of their hearts. Conversely, plenty of people who profess to be religious, even those who worship regularly, show no particular interest in the world beyond themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 186, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "4a39da45-90d5-43a3-b035-7c8dccb8eea2", "slug": "in-the-middle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/in-the-middle", "text": "In the Middle East, Iraq, Sudan, the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland, and many other places in the world, religion has been so divisive that people have killed one another, believing they were doing the work of God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 2, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "2b0dfc97-49ee-4d69-af0d-051a4d009384", "slug": "when-we-vest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/when-we-vest", "text": "When we vest our personal opinions with the trappings of religion, we make religion the servant of our politics.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 213, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "29d9d172-cdf2-4357-a906-12ffc5787629", "slug": "the-old-adage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/the-old-adage", "text": "The old adage that polite conversation should not include talk of politics or religion is understandable because both subjects are so heavily laden with emotion that discussion can quickly turn to shouting. Blood is shed over politics, religion and the two in combination.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 215, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "1f248549-a1a9-4a20-a7e4-b1a29b14d811", "slug": "the-problem-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/the-problem-is-not", "text": "The problem is not that Christians are conservative or liberal, but that some are so confident that their position is God's position that they become dismissive and intolerant toward others and divisive forces in our national life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 10, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "07081163-1b3d-4370-a60c-838c5fb273f2", "slug": "whether-religion-is-a-divisive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/whether-religion-is-a-divisive", "text": "Whether religion is a divisive or reconciling force depends on our certainty or our humility as we practice our faith in our politics. If we believe that we know God's truth and that we can embody that truth in a political agenda, we divide the realm of politics into those who are on God's side, which is our side, and those with whom we disagree, who oppose the side of God. This is neither good religion nor good politics. It is not consistent with following a Lord who reached out to a variety of people — prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers. If politics is the art of compromise, certainty is not really politics, for how can one compromise with God's own truth? Reconciliation depends on acknowledging that God's truth is greater than our own, that we cannot reduce it to any political platform we create, no matter how committed we are to that platform, and that God's truth is large enough to accommodate the opinions of all kinds of people, even those with whom we strongly disagree.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Danforth", "slug": "john-danforth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth" }, "book": { "title": "Faith and Politics", "slug": "faith-and-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 16, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth#Faith_and_Politics_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:22" }, { "id": "90ae1abf-19bf-4e89-8291-8175842dfb1a", "slug": "i-see-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-tides-of-time/i-see-what", "text": "“I see what Gene is driving at. To dream of changing the whole universe in accordance with a set of local preconceptions!...Oh, it’s ridiculous!”\n\n“A missionary,” Gene repeated with a solemn nod. “By definition: a person who does without intending it more harm than good.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "The Tides of Time", "slug": "the-tides-of-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-tides-of-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 220, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#The_Tides_of_Time_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:12" }, { "id": "5d4268dd-ed5a-4321-9a2a-1f3334691583", "slug": "men-change-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-atlantic-abomination/men-change-their", "text": "Men change their gods, and when they have changed them often enough they cease to fear their power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "The Atlantic Abomination", "slug": "the-atlantic-abomination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-atlantic-abomination" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 128, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#The_Atlantic_Abomination_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:08" }, { "id": "0be36a5d-b3f3-4311-8a5a-5d331f8292a8", "slug": "now-there-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger/now-there-are", "text": "Now, there are some, and I don’t just mean Communists like you, but thinking men of all political parties, who think that not many of these gods actually exist. Some believe that ‘’none’’ of them exist. There’s just us and an ocean of darkness around us. I’m no philosopher or poet, how would I know the truth? It’s true that all these gods seem to do awfully little work—much like our politicians—and yet keep winning reelection to their golden thrones in heaven, year after year. That’s not to say that I don’t respect them, Mr. Premier! Don’t you ever let that blasphemous idea into your yellow skull. My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aravind Adiga", "slug": "aravind-adiga", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga" }, "book": { "title": "The White Tiger", "slug": "the-white-tiger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aravind_Adiga#The_White_Tiger_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:06" }, { "id": "614c78eb-3986-4eb6-b931-601230eb925e", "slug": "the-white-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart/the-white-man", "text": "The white man is very clever. He came quietly with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chinua Achebe", "slug": "chinua-achebe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe" }, "book": { "title": "Things Fall Apart", "slug": "things-fall-apart", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 162, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" }, { "name": "colonialism", "slug": "colonialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/colonialism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#Things_Fall_Apart_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:54" }, { "id": "ede43fac-3e40-443e-9cee-63dfbe880f2d", "slug": "when-the-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england/when-the-people", "text": "When the people found that they were none the better for the blessings of the Druids, and none the worse for the curses of the Druids, but, that the sun shone and the rain fell without consulting the Druids at all, they just began to think that the Druids were mere men, and that it signified very little whether they cursed or blessed. After which, the pupils of the Druids fell greatly off in numbers, and the Druids took to other trades.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "A Child's History of England", "slug": "a-childs-history-of-england", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Child's_History_of_England#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:53" }, { "id": "9a67ecec-cba6-42fb-93bd-76b3643caec9", "slug": "there-were-two", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england/there-were-two", "text": "There were two Popes at this time (as if one were not enough!), and their quarrels involved Europe in a great deal of trouble.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "A Child's History of England", "slug": "a-childs-history-of-england", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Child's_History_of_England#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:53" }, { "id": "d3efae4d-b18b-4745-9485-b39f15d19de6", "slug": "it-is-probable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/it-is-probable", "text": "It is probable that democracy owes more to Nonconformity than to any other single movement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "a8496476-9820-4659-80f2-5f4796009ba7", "slug": "convinced-that-character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/convinced-that-character", "text": "Convinced that character is all and circumstances nothing, [the Puritan] sees in the poverty of those who fall by the way, not a misfortune to be pitied and relieved, but a moral failing to be condemned, and in riches, not an object of suspicion … but the blessing which rewards the triumph of energy and will.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" }, { "name": "poverty", "slug": "poverty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "9a0ecec5-0ddd-49b3-ae10-c4c50e800eb9", "slug": "to-countless-generations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/to-countless-generations", "text": "To countless generations of religious thinkers, the fundamental maxim of Christian social ethics had seemed to be expressed in the words of St. Paul to Timothy: \"Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. For the love of money is the root of all evil.\" Now, while, as always, the world battered at the gate, a new standard was raised within the citadel by its own defenders. The garrison had discovered that the invading host of economic appetites was, not an enemy, but an ally. Not sufficiency to the needs of daily life, but limitless increase and expansion, became the goal of the Christian's efforts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "97d60327-2861-45f7-a7bb-d5828733cc56", "slug": "the-shrewd-calculating", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/the-shrewd-calculating", "text": "The shrewd, calculating commercialism which tries all human relations by pecuniary standards, the acquisitiveness which cannot rest while there are competitors to be conquered or profits to be won, the love of social power and hunger for economic gain—these irrepressible appetites had evoked from time immemorial the warnings and denunciations of saints and sages. Plunged in the cleansing waters of later Puritanism, the qualities which less enlightened ages had denounced as social vices emerged as economic virtues. They emerged as moral virtues as well. For the world exists not to be enjoyed, but to be conquered. Only its conqueror deserves the name of Christian. For such a philosophy, the question, \"What shall it profit a man?\" carries no sting. In winning the world, he wins the salvation of his own soul as well.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "greed", "slug": "greed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/greed" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "1f0b6f01-9004-431a-a5b1-56bba5c412ae", "slug": "laborare-est-orare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/laborare-est-orare", "text": "Laborare est orare. [To work is to pray.] By the Puritan moralist the ancient maxim is repeated with a new and intenser significance. The labor which he idealizes is not simply a requirement imposed by nature, or a punishment for the sin of Adam. It is itself a kind of ascetic discipline, more rigorous than that demanded of any order of mendicants—a discipline imposed by the will of God, and to be undergone, not in solitude, but in the punctual discharge of secular duties. It is not merely an economic means, to be laid aside when physical needs have been satisfied. It is a spiritual end, for in it alone can the soul find health, and it must be continued as an ethical duty long after it has ceased to be a material necessity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "fb48f147-3b2d-441e-81f4-baca6f2999ba", "slug": "he-was-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte/wuthering-heights/he-was-and", "text": "He was, and is yet most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the curses to his neighbours.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emily Brontë", "slug": "emily-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "Wuthering Heights", "slug": "wuthering-heights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte/wuthering-heights" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:43" }, { "id": "cf8bdc70-099f-4583-9a5e-dffc21c2236d", "slug": "difference-of-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia/difference-of-opinion", "text": "Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perforin the office of a censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves. But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Jefferson", "slug": "thomas-jefferson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson" }, "book": { "title": "Notes on the State of Virginia", "slug": "notes-on-the-state-of-virginia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 172, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia#Query_XVII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:39" }, { "id": "61b8c8d0-6751-491c-8e93-d94708282813", "slug": "the-error-seems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia/the-error-seems", "text": "The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free enquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free enquiry been indulged, at the aera of the reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potatoe as an article of food.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Jefferson", "slug": "thomas-jefferson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson" }, "book": { "title": "Notes on the State of Virginia", "slug": "notes-on-the-state-of-virginia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 170, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" }, { "name": "freedom of speech", "slug": "freedom-of-speech", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom-of-speech" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia#Query_XVII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:39" }, { "id": "bf2d9ed7-7a23-4144-ba41-0b8693871070", "slug": "while-religion-contrary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man/while-religion-contrary", "text": "While religion, contrary to the common notion, implies, in certain cases, a spirit of slow reserve as to assent, infidelity, which claims to despise credulity, is sometimes swift to it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "The Confidence-Man", "slug": "the-confidence-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Confidence-Man#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:34" }, { "id": "ff600331-e560-43d9-ba48-e6980fa912a5", "slug": "though-you-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-system-of-the-world/though-you-and", "text": "\"Though you, and most other Fellows of the Royal Society, are true Christians, and believers in Free Will, the very doctrines and methods that the Royal Society has promulgated have caused many to question the existence of God. ... As so much of civilization is rooted in those beliefs, this strikes me as one way in which our System of the World might be set up wrongly and thus self-doomed.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "The System Of The World", "slug": "the-system-of-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-system-of-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle#Book_Eight:_The_System_of_the_World", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:31" }, { "id": "14dcef44-4102-460a-9c10-d5fba7331f3a", "slug": "given-a-choice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/cosm/given-a-choice", "text": "Given a choice between existential despair and rapt religious fervor, her crowd chose marijuana.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Cosm", "slug": "cosm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/cosm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 282, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "despair", "slug": "despair", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/despair" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Cosm_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:24" }, { "id": "88603833-fe6a-4f73-a7a6-0d52920dd94c", "slug": "religions-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/timescape/religions-do-not", "text": "Religions do not teach doubt.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Timescape", "slug": "timescape", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/timescape" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 322, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Timescape_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:22" }, { "id": "1749ea00-9a84-4fae-8d82-ab78df010096", "slug": "avan-was-as-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/tooth-and-claw/avan-was-as-religious", "text": "Avan was as religious as the next young dragon with his way to make in the world—which is to say that he held many traditional beliefs which he had never paused to examine, attended church because it would have seemed strange not to, rarely paid much attention when he was there, and found piety out of the pulpit thoroughly misplaced.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jo Walton", "slug": "jo-walton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton" }, "book": { "title": "Tooth and Claw", "slug": "tooth-and-claw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/tooth-and-claw" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jo_Walton#Tooth_and_Claw_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:15" }, { "id": "3e7d3d85-fa7b-482c-b66f-91bc3cfc204d", "slug": "everyone-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sherwood-anderson/winesburg-ohio/everyone-in-the", "text": "Everyone in the world is Christ and they are all crucified.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sherwood Anderson", "slug": "sherwood-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sherwood-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "Winesburg, Ohio", "slug": "winesburg-ohio", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sherwood-anderson/winesburg-ohio" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherwood_Anderson#Winesburg,_Ohio_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:13" }, { "id": "5180f8dc-0355-469b-ad4a-34eee98e22e0", "slug": "i-am-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/i-am-the", "text": "“I am the way and the truth and the life.” These words uttered by Jesus are one of the most powerful and direct pointers to the Truth, if understood correctly. If misinterpreted, however, they become a great obstacle. Jesus speaks of the innermost I Am, the essence identity of every man and woman, every life form, in fact. He speaks of the life that you are. Some Christian mystics have called it the Christ within; Buddhists call it your Buddha nature; for Hindus, it is Atman, the indwelling God. When you are in touch with that dimension within yourself – and being in touch with it is your natural state, not some miraculous achievement – all your actions and relationships will reflect the oneness with all life that you sense deep within.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "spirituality", "slug": "spirituality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/spirituality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_3,_The_Core_of_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "2f3ff291-da92-49ac-b600-19937d773e9d", "slug": "blessed-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/blessed-are-the", "text": "“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” What does “poor in spirit” mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" }, { "name": "Possessions", "slug": "possessions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/possessions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:02" }, { "id": "38b29a8c-db92-43b5-b661-532e995330e3", "slug": "teachings-that-pointed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/teachings-that-pointed", "text": "Teachings that pointed the way beyond the dysfunction of the human mind, the way out of the collective insanity, were distorted and became themselves part of the insanity.\n\nAnd so religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. Instead of bringing about an ending of violence and hatred through a realization of the fundamental oneness of all life, they brought more violence and hatred, more divisions between people as well as between different religions and even within the same religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#A_New_Earth_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:01" }, { "id": "1aa1bc01-a3a7-4a1e-899f-15bab1e7f965", "slug": "the-possibility-of-such", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/the-possibility-of-such", "text": "The possibility of such a transformation has been the central message of the great wisdom teachings of humankind. The messengers—Buddha, Jesus, and others, not all of them known—were humanity's early flowers. They were precursors, rare and precious beings. A widespread flowering was not yet possible at that time, and their message became largely misunderstood and often greatly distorted. It certainly did not transform human behavior, except in a small minority of people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "spirituality", "slug": "spirituality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/spirituality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#A_New_Earth_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:01" }, { "id": "d50c03e0-c0d8-4edf-aa6d-67a2033688b5", "slug": "a-religion-is-a-system", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures/a-religion-is-a-system", "text": "A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing those conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford Geertz", "slug": "clifford-geertz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz" }, "book": { "title": "The Interpretation of Cultures", "slug": "the-interpretation-of-cultures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 90, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_Geertz#The_Interpretation_of_Cultures_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:55" }, { "id": "4dddf78c-2711-49d8-b083-e299dd4f63bd", "slug": "is-it-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-goodall/reason-for-hope/is-it-not", "text": "Is it not possible that the chimpanzees are responding to some feeling like awe? A feeling generated by the mystery of water; water that seems alive, always rushing past yet never going, always the same yet ever different. Was it perhaps similar feelings of awe that gave rise to the first animistic religions, the worship of the elements and the mysteries of nature over which there was no control? Only when our prehistoric ancestors developed language would it have been possible to discuss such internal feelings and create a shared religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Goodall", "slug": "jane-goodall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-goodall" }, "book": { "title": "Reason For Hope", "slug": "reason-for-hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-goodall/reason-for-hope" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 189, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall#Reason_for_Hope:_a_Spiritual_Journey_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:55" }, { "id": "7d61aaec-a2d1-40bb-9064-5a85dd7049c1", "slug": "i-think-your", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/i-think-your", "text": "I think your piety one of your greatest charms; but then, like all other good things, it may be carried too far. To my thinking, a woman's religion ought not to lessen her devotion to her earthly lord. She should have enough to purify and etherealise her soul, but not enough to refine away her heart, and raise her above all human sympathies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Brontë", "slug": "anne-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", "slug": "the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "marriage", "slug": "marriage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/marriage" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB#The_Tenant_of_Wildfell_Hall_(1848)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:28" }, { "id": "cbaec88b-c005-486e-905e-9c1f45c24b95", "slug": "it-is-undeniably", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-a-salvatore/servant-of-the-shard-dungeons-dragons/it-is-undeniably", "text": "\"It is undeniably beautiful, do you not agree?\" Jarlaxle asked, looking back at the soaring cathedral, with its tall spires, soaring buttresses, and great, colored windows.\n\n\"The mask of a god\", Entreri replied sourly.\n\n\"The mask or the face?\" asked the always-surprising Jarlaxle.\n\nEntreri stared hard at his companion, and back at the towering cathedral. \"The mask\", he said, \"or perhaps the illusion, concocted by those who seek to elevate themselves above all others and have not the skills to do so\".\n\nJarlaxle looked at him curiously.\n\n\"A man inferior with the blade or with his thoughts can still so elevate himself\", Entreri explained curtly, \"if he can impart the belief that some god or other speaks through him. It is the greatest deception in all the world, and one embraced by kings and lords, while minor lying thieves on the streets of Calimport and other cities lose their tongues for so attempting to coax the purses of others\".\n\nThat struck Jarlaxle as the most poignant and revealing insight he had yet pried from the mouth of the elusive Artemis Entreri, a great clue as to who this man truly was.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. A. Salvatore", "slug": "r-a-salvatore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-a-salvatore" }, "book": { "title": "Servant of the Shard: Dungeons & Dragons", "slug": "servant-of-the-shard-dungeons-dragons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-a-salvatore/servant-of-the-shard-dungeons-dragons" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._A._Salvatore#Servant_of_the_Shard", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:23" }, { "id": "2a0fcc55-c9e2-4856-b87e-b325e29a48c2", "slug": "never-trust-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/never-trust-a-man", "text": "Never trust a man who thinks his religion gives him all the answers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Halting State", "slug": "halting-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 275, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Halting_State_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:06" }, { "id": "8eca90df-c823-468e-a456-8f3b47795d49", "slug": "noting-with-dismay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/first-among-sequels/noting-with-dismay", "text": "Noting with dismay that most cross-religion bickering occurred only because all the major religions were convinced that they were the right one and every other religion was the wrong one, the founders of the Global Standard Deity based their fledgling “portmanteau” faith on the premise that most religions want the same thing once all the shameless, manipulative power play had been subtracted: peace, stability, equality and justice—the same as the nonfaiths. As soon as they found that centralizing thread that unites all people and makes a dialogue of sorts with a Being of Supreme Moral Authority mostly optional, the GSD flourished.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jasper Fforde", "slug": "jasper-fforde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde" }, "book": { "title": "First Among Sequels", "slug": "first-among-sequels", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/first-among-sequels" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 125, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "peace", "slug": "peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde#First_Among_Sequels_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:00" }, { "id": "06331b07-539f-4831-b0cf-82e19ae03f94", "slug": "how-is-the-faith-unification", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/first-among-sequels/how-is-the-faith-unification", "text": "“How is the faith-unification business?”\n\n“We’ve nearly got everyone,” said Joffy with a smile. “The atheists came on board last week. Once we had suggested that ‘god’ could be a set of essentially beneficent physical rules of the cosmos, they were only too happy to join. In fact, apart from a few scattered remnants of faith leaders who can’t quite come to terms with the loss of their power, influence and associated funny hats, it’s all looking pretty good.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jasper Fforde", "slug": "jasper-fforde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde" }, "book": { "title": "First Among Sequels", "slug": "first-among-sequels", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/first-among-sequels" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 128, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde#First_Among_Sequels_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:00" }, { "id": "7b335b35-4fc5-4072-a749-3f8fc8c70cab", "slug": "were-fine-joff", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/lost-in-a-good-book/were-fine-joff", "text": "“We’re fine, Joff. You?”\n\n“Not that good, Thurs. The Church of the Global Standard Deity has undergone a split.”\n\n“No!” I said with his much surprise and concern in my voice as I could muster.\n\n“I’m afraid so. The new Global Standard Clockwise Deity have broken away due to unresolvable differences over the direction in which the collection plate is passed round.”\n\n“Another split? That’s the third this week!”\n\n“Fourth,” replied Joffy dourly, “and it’s only Tuesday. The Standardized pro-Baptist conjoined Methodarian-Lutherian sisters of something-or-other split into two subgroups yesterday. Soon,” he added grimly, “there won’t be enough ministers to man the splits.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jasper Fforde", "slug": "jasper-fforde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde" }, "book": { "title": "Lost in a Good Book", "slug": "lost-in-a-good-book", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/lost-in-a-good-book" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 81, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde#Lost_in_a_Good_Book_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:59" }, { "id": "b49a27b3-d826-482d-b9cc-771744571343", "slug": "there-are-some", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-christmas-carol/there-are-some", "text": "\"There are some upon this earth of yours,\" returned the Spirit, \"who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "A Christmas Carol", "slug": "a-christmas-carol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-christmas-carol" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol#Stave_3:_The_Second_of_the_Three_Spirits", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:44" }, { "id": "3dd6dfbd-d142-4f30-9401-98e288c644f7", "slug": "the-religions-of-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-dark-design/the-religions-of-jesus", "text": "The religions of Jesus, Paul, and Buddha had started to degenerate before their founders were cold in their graves. Just as St. Francis’ order had begun corrupting before its founder’s body was rotten.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip José Farmer", "slug": "philip-jose-farmer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer" }, "book": { "title": "The Dark Design", "slug": "the-dark-design", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-dark-design" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 296, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "corruption", "slug": "corruption", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/corruption" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer#The_Dark_Design_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:31" }, { "id": "b686c5b5-109c-4542-ab2f-2a1d3fa44e40", "slug": "all-the-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/to-your-scattered-bodies-go/all-the-human", "text": "All the human beings I met were either sure that there would be no afterlife or else that they would get preferential treatment in the hereafter.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip José Farmer", "slug": "philip-jose-farmer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer" }, "book": { "title": "To Your Scattered Bodies Go", "slug": "to-your-scattered-bodies-go", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/to-your-scattered-bodies-go" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 17, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer#To_Your_Scattered_Bodies_Go_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:30" }, { "id": "7d668022-0a77-44d2-8650-1a66f8da33d9", "slug": "burton-sighed-laughed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/to-your-scattered-bodies-go/burton-sighed-laughed", "text": "Burton sighed, laughed loudly, and said, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” Another fairy tale to give men hope. The old religions have been discredited — although some refuse to face even that fact — so new ones must be invented.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip José Farmer", "slug": "philip-jose-farmer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer" }, "book": { "title": "To Your Scattered Bodies Go", "slug": "to-your-scattered-bodies-go", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/to-your-scattered-bodies-go" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 179, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer#To_Your_Scattered_Bodies_Go_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:30" }, { "id": "3e2b29f7-885f-47df-a154-9a02ffde6f86", "slug": "of-course-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/of-course-there", "text": "Of course there were doubts about it, there always had been; when you found out about all the other holy books there had ever been throughout the histories of other peoples throughout the galaxy, you realised how common they were, and how fallible, how restricted they were by the usual tribal prejudices and traditions of the people who – it took real blind faith not to accept – had made them up.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The Hydrogen Sonata", "slug": "the-hydrogen-sonata", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 111, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_Hydrogen_Sonata_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:20" }, { "id": "f0fc5f69-1789-4baf-ba5f-7d7d919c0063", "slug": "most-species-capable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail/most-species-capable", "text": "Most species capable of forming an opinion on the subject had a pretty high opinion of themselves, and most individuals in such species tended to think it was a matter of some considerable importance whether they personally survived or not. Faced with the inevitable struggles and iniquities attendant upon a primitive life, it could be argued that it was an either very gloomy, unimaginative, breathtakingly stoic or just plain dim species that didn’t come up with the idea that what could feel like an appallingly short, brutal and terrifying life was somehow not all there was to existence, and that a better one awaited them, personally and collectively – allowing for certain eligibility requirements – after death.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Surface Detail", "slug": "surface-detail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 122, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Surface_Detail_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:19" }, { "id": "a2618203-b726-467b-8cd9-e49441404903", "slug": "holse-had-no-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/matter/holse-had-no-idea", "text": "Holse had no idea how these things worked; he had never really bothered with religion, though he had always paid lip-service to the church for the sake of an easy life. He had long suspected that the WorldGod was just another convenient semi-fiction supporting the whole structure that sustained the rich and powerful in their privilege.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Matter", "slug": "matter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/matter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 101, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Matter_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:19" }, { "id": "981e38b6-f8d6-44a1-b73d-52e683e86c74", "slug": "the-majority-of-species", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail/the-majority-of-species", "text": "The majority of species, too, could scrape together some sort of metaphysical framework, a form of earlier speculation – semi-deranged or otherwise – regarding the way things worked at a fundamental level which could later be held up as a philosophy, life-rule system or genuine religion, especially if one used the excuse that it was really only a metaphor, no matter how literally true it had declared itself to be originally.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Surface Detail", "slug": "surface-detail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 122, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Surface_Detail_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:19" }, { "id": "3ea171c5-24d7-4321-90e2-815cdbd915ee", "slug": "ferbins-father-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/matter/ferbins-father-had", "text": "Ferbin’s father had had the same robustly pragmatic view of religion as he’d had of everything else. In his opinion, only the very poor and downtrodden really needed religion, to make their laborious lives more bearable. People craved self-importance; they longed to be told they mattered as individuals, not just as part of a mass of people or some historical process. They needed the reassurance that while their life might be hard, bitter and thankless, some reward would be theirs after death. Happily for the governing class, a well-formed faith also kept people from seeking their recompense in the here and now, through riot, insurrection or revolution.\n\nA temple was worth a dozen barracks; a militia man carrying a gun could control a small unarmed crowd only for as long as he was present; however, a single priest could put a policeman inside the head of every one of their flock, for ever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Matter", "slug": "matter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/matter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 206, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Matter_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:19" }, { "id": "08f7b0de-be3e-4184-b5df-d7eb5c23806f", "slug": "dont-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/consider-phlebas/dont-you-have", "text": "“Don’t you have a religion?” Dorolow asked Horza.\n\n“Yes,” he replied, not taking his eyes away from the screen on the wall above the end of the main mess-room table. “My survival.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Consider Phlebas", "slug": "consider-phlebas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/consider-phlebas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 102, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "survival", "slug": "survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/survival" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Consider_Phlebas_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:15" }, { "id": "446c2877-ae06-44cb-a816-cdbee3a92ad0", "slug": "it-has-often", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/walking-on-water/it-has-often", "text": "It has often struck me with awe that some of the most deeply religious people I know have been, on the surface, atheists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Madeleine L’Engle", "slug": "madeleine-lengle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle" }, "book": { "title": "Walking on Water", "slug": "walking-on-water", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/walking-on-water" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Madeleine_L'Engle#Walking_on_Water_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:09" }, { "id": "2c72aef1-22e8-463d-806d-76a5d042cf11", "slug": "to-be-a-christian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west/democracy-matters/to-be-a-christian", "text": "To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom. (p172)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cornel West", "slug": "cornel-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy Matters", "slug": "democracy-matters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west/democracy-matters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornel_West#Democracy_Matters:_Winning_the_Fight_Against_Imperialism_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:02" }, { "id": "7db0652d-9e95-4acb-ba8b-e05b979269dc", "slug": "war-has-lodged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-ehrenreich/blood-rites/war-has-lodged", "text": "(War) has lodged in our souls as a kind of religion, a quick tonic for political malaise and a bracing antidote to the moral torpor of consumerist, market-driven cultures.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara Ehrenreich", "slug": "barbara-ehrenreich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-ehrenreich" }, "book": { "title": "Blood Rites", "slug": "blood-rites", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-ehrenreich/blood-rites" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "consumerism", "slug": "consumerism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Ehrenreich#Blood_Rites:_Origins_and_History_of_the_Passions_of_War_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:55" }, { "id": "b04b7b93-8bb9-48af-b83b-23843b64e801", "slug": "the-religion-of-christianity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith/selected-poems/the-religion-of-christianity", "text": "The religion of Christianity\n\nIs mixed of sweetness and cruelty\n\nReject this Sweetness, for she wears\n\nA smoky dress out of hell fires.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stevie Smith", "slug": "stevie-smith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith" }, "book": { "title": "Selected Poems", "slug": "selected-poems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith/selected-poems" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stevie_Smith#Selected_Poems_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:54" }, { "id": "a3097986-e56e-4ac3-8bd4-c8ed6c416b18", "slug": "christianity-and-islam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-mask-of-apollo/christianity-and-islam", "text": "Christianity and Islam have changed irrevocably the moral reflexes of the world. The philosopher Herakleitos said with profound truth that you cannot step twice into the same river. The perpetual stream of human nature is formed into ever-changing shallows, eddies, falls and pools by the land over which it passes. Perhaps the only real value of history lies in considering this endlessly varied play between the essence and the accidents.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary Renault", "slug": "mary-renault", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault" }, "book": { "title": "The Mask of Apollo", "slug": "the-mask-of-apollo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-mask-of-apollo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Renault#The_Mask_of_Apollo_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:49" }, { "id": "9b8b6cce-6110-4178-9f54-982b7de7609f", "slug": "americans-experience-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/darling/americans-experience-time", "text": "Americans experience time in two distinct ways—as religious people and as people of no religion. Just so, we experience ourselves as a historical people and as people who are not implicated by history.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Darling", "slug": "darling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/darling" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Darling:_A_Spiritual_Autobiography_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:48" }, { "id": "d60b7ebf-9d06-4353-80b4-a8511a85b804", "slug": "the-paradox-of-monotheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/darling/the-paradox-of-monotheism", "text": "The paradox of monotheism is that the desert God, refuting all other gods, demands acknowledgment within emptiness. The paradox of monotheism is that there is no paradox—only unfathomable singularity", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Darling", "slug": "darling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/darling" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "emptiness", "slug": "emptiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emptiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Darling:_A_Spiritual_Autobiography_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "647cbee5-d608-4f2d-89c4-8a528d4985dc", "slug": "the-sole-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/the-sole-religious", "text": "The sole religious orthodoxy permitted in our public schools is the separation of paper from plastic. Not so many miles from this beach, great-grandchildren of westering pioneers chain themselves to redwoods, martyrs of the new animism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "bfcba466-d73a-469e-a108-a95b2e2eef4c", "slug": "if-i-ask", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory/if-i-ask", "text": "If I ask questions about religion that my grandparents didn’t ask, it is not because I am intellectually advanced. I wonder about the existence of God because, unlike my grandparents, I live much of my day in a secular city where I do not measure the hours with the tolling bells of a church.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Hunger of Memory", "slug": "hunger-of-memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "city", "slug": "city", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/city" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Hunger_of_Memory:_The_Education_of_Richard_Rodriguez_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:46" }, { "id": "36c6bfa3-3bc3-4c1f-b676-d86189db0642", "slug": "a-religion-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/a-religion-that", "text": "A religion that teaches you God is something outside the world--something separate from everything you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear--is nothing but a cheap hustle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Matthew Stover", "slug": "matthew-stover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover" }, "book": { "title": "Blade of Tyshalle", "slug": "blade-of-tyshalle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 282, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Stover#Blade_of_Tyshalle_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:44" }, { "id": "f466a499-a344-4382-9a71-06398bb3ad28", "slug": "i-told-him", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/villette/i-told-him", "text": "I told him how we kept fewer forms between us and God; retaining, indeed, no more than, perhaps, the nature of mankind in the mass rendered necessary for due observance. I told him I could not look on flowers and tinsel, on wax- lights and embroidery, at such times and under such circumstances as should be devoted to lifting the secret vision to Him whose home is Infinity, and His being — Eternity. That when I thought of sin and sorrow, of earthly corruption, mortal depravity, weighty temporal woe — I could not care for chanting priests or mumming officials; that when the pains of existence and the terrors of dissolution pressed before me — when the mighty hope and measureless doubt of the future arose in view — _then_, even the scientific strain, or the prayer in a language learned and dead, harassed: with hindrance a heart which only longed to cry — \"God be merciful to me, a sinner!\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charlotte Brontë", "slug": "charlotte-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "Villette", "slug": "villette", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/villette" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "prayer", "slug": "prayer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prayer" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB#Villette_(1853)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:42" }, { "id": "5365239e-b828-4126-8e03-4250d29d1955", "slug": "conventionality-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre/conventionality-is-not", "text": "Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is — I repeat it — a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them.The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered, for it has been accustomed to blend them; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth — to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines. It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose — to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it — to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but hate as it will, it is indebted to him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charlotte Brontë", "slug": "charlotte-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "Jane Eyre", "slug": "jane-eyre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB#Jane_Eyre_(1847)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:41" }, { "id": "e69a8778-7bc6-4f7b-a27a-56b06359b0e5", "slug": "religion-now-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/a-turn-in-the-south/religion-now-had", "text": "Religion now had to have its compartment, almost its social place.\n\nThe frontier had ceased to exist. And the religions it had bred were beginning slowly to die. In the old days, when men, often of little education, had needed only to declare themselves ministers, people would have seen themselves reflected in the expounders of the Word. This quality of homespun would have made the religions appear creations of a community, personal and close and inviolable. Now a certain distance was needed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "V. S. Naipaul", "slug": "v-s-naipaul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul" }, "book": { "title": "A Turn in the South", "slug": "a-turn-in-the-south", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/a-turn-in-the-south" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 244, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul#A_Turn_in_the_South_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:36" }, { "id": "2ca4b98c-5ca0-4fb8-b3cf-1cdff0b1d050", "slug": "the-key-hindu", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/india-a-wounded-civilization/the-key-hindu", "text": "The key Hindu concept of dharma — the right way, the sanctioned way, which all men must follow, according to their natures — is an elastic concept. At its noblest it combines self-fulfillment and truth to the self with the ideas of action as duty, action as its own spiritual reward, man as a holy vessel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "V. S. Naipaul", "slug": "v-s-naipaul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul" }, "book": { "title": "India: A Wounded Civilization", "slug": "india-a-wounded-civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/india-a-wounded-civilization" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "duty", "slug": "duty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/duty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul#India:_A_Wounded_Civilization_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:35" }, { "id": "bd3bb360-68b8-48e6-8e87-d75d33ac375f", "slug": "by-grace-i-understand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-tyndale/the-obedience-of-a-christian-man/by-grace-i-understand", "text": "By grace I understand the favor of God, and also the gifts and working of his Spirit in us; as love, kindness, patience, obedience, mercifulness, despising of worldly things, peace, concord, and such like. If after thou hast heard so many masses, matins, and evensongs, and after thou hast received holy bread, holy water, and the bishop’s blessing, or a cardinal’s or the pope’s, if thou wilt be more kind to thy neighbor, and love him better than before; if thou be more obedient unto thy superiors; more merciful, more ready to forgive wrong; done unto thee, more despisest the world, and more athirst after spiritual things; if after that a priest hath taken orders he be less covetous than before; if a wife, after so many and oft pilgrimages, be more chaste, more obedient unto her husband, more kind to her maids and other servants; if gentlemen, knights, lords, and kings and emperors, after they have said so often daily service with their chaplains, know more of Christ than before, and can better skill to rule their tenants, subjects, and realms christianly than before, and be content with their duties; then do such things increase grace. If not, it is a lie. Whether it be so or no, I report me to experience. If they have any other interpretations of justifying or grace, I pray them to teach it me; for I would gladly learn it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Tyndale", "slug": "william-tyndale", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-tyndale" }, "book": { "title": "The Obedience of a Christian Man", "slug": "the-obedience-of-a-christian-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-tyndale/the-obedience-of-a-christian-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Tyndale#The_Obedience_of_A_Christian_Man_(1528)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:19" }, { "id": "2a3ed3af-fc8f-4c76-9448-733198eb990b", "slug": "revelation-is-where", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zadie-smith/white-teeth/revelation-is-where", "text": "Revelation is where all crazy people end up. It's the last stop on the nutso express.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zadie Smith", "slug": "zadie-smith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zadie-smith" }, "book": { "title": "White Teeth", "slug": "white-teeth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zadie-smith/white-teeth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zadie_Smith#White_Teeth_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:19" }, { "id": "3b4cdcbb-ba9c-4ab0-b397-9fec9a897139", "slug": "at-this-late", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/garrett-hardin/filters-against-folly/at-this-late", "text": "At this late date in the post-Christian Era, it might be questioned whether the Bible should even be brought into an ethical discussion. I argue that it should. Many people who do not explicitly call on the Bible for backing are nevertheless influenced by what they believe the Bible says. (Everyone knows about the Good Samaritan, even though they may not be able to remember what Samaritans in general were.) It is considered good form to speak politely of Scripture: revere it, but don't bother reading it seems to be the rule. Above all, don't read it thoughtfully.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Garrett Hardin", "slug": "garrett-hardin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/garrett-hardin" }, "book": { "title": "Filters against Folly", "slug": "filters-against-folly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/garrett-hardin/filters-against-folly" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Garrett_Hardin#Filters_Against_Folly_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:10" }, { "id": "bbb539be-0f75-4eb7-ac83-359b17b393ad", "slug": "religious-values-tend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/collapse/religious-values-tend", "text": "Religious values tend to be especially deeply held and hence frequent cause of disastrous behaviour. [...] The modern world provides us with abundant secular examples of admirable values to which we cling under conditions where those values no longer make sense [...] It appears to me that much of the rigid opposition to environmental concerns in the First World nowadays involves values acquired early in life and never again reexamined [...].", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jared Diamond", "slug": "jared-diamond", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond" }, "book": { "title": "Collapse", "slug": "collapse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/collapse" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "beliefs", "slug": "beliefs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jared_Diamond#Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:07" }, { "id": "dded12eb-2f15-426b-88ff-5f659595f09d", "slug": "i-cannot-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi/i-cannot-think", "text": "I cannot think of a better way to spread the faith. No thundering from a pulpit, no condemnation from bad churches, no peer pressure, just a book of scripture quietly waiting to say hello, as gentle and powerful as a little girl's kiss on your cheek.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Yann Martel", "slug": "yann-martel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel" }, "book": { "title": "Life Of Pi", "slug": "life-of-pi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 230, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yann_Martel#Life_of_Pi_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:03" }, { "id": "8b7454ed-b146-4340-93c7-fb72b5453d78", "slug": "bapu-gandhi-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi/bapu-gandhi-said", "text": "\"Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God,\" I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Yann Martel", "slug": "yann-martel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel" }, "book": { "title": "Life Of Pi", "slug": "life-of-pi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 76, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yann_Martel#Life_of_Pi_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:03" }, { "id": "28935c83-bf12-49c6-ba8e-9854b9351242", "slug": "hindus-in-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi/hindus-in-their", "text": "Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Yann Martel", "slug": "yann-martel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel" }, "book": { "title": "Life Of Pi", "slug": "life-of-pi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yann-martel/life-of-pi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 54, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yann_Martel#Life_of_Pi_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:03" }, { "id": "2cec76ee-5706-47f8-a610-c9ca7509fbce", "slug": "the-koran-well", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/the-koran-well", "text": "The Koran! well, come put me to the test—\n\nLovely old book in hideous error drest—\n\nBelieve me, I can quote the Koran too,\n\nThe unbeliever knows his Koran best. And do you think that unto such as you,\n\nA maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew,\n\nGod gave the secret, and denied it me?—\n\nWell, well, what matters it! believe that too.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 47, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#Le_Gallienne,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1897,_1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:01" }, { "id": "6e56cd77-0b0b-4122-84a8-5cd6cfd12bf3", "slug": "and-this-i-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/and-this-i-know", "text": "And this I know: whether the one True Light,\n\nKindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,\n\nOne Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught\n\nBetter than in the Temple lost outright.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "alcohol", "slug": "alcohol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/alcohol" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#FitzGerald,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1859,_'68,_'72,_'79,_'89)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:00" }, { "id": "3da039fc-7a38-46fc-a7d1-7cf325af13c9", "slug": "the-revelations-of-devout", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/the-revelations-of-devout", "text": "The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd\n\nWho rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd,\n\nAre all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep,\n\nThey told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "dreams", "slug": "dreams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#FitzGerald,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1859,_'68,_'72,_'79,_'89)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:00" }, { "id": "fd744523-f21f-4370-82d5-0c96f298bb97", "slug": "why-all-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/why-all-the", "text": "Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd\n\nOf the Two Worlds so learnedly — are thrust\n\nLike foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn\n\nAre scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#FitzGerald,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1859,_'68,_'72,_'79,_'89)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:59" }, { "id": "a3e8782f-86d6-4ba6-8125-bc48a41df963", "slug": "sinner-selfe-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death/sinner-selfe-said", "text": "“Sinner!” Selfe said again. “Even the Devil can quote Scripture for his purposes.”\n\n“No doubt,” Dowling said. “Which of us do you suppose he’s speaking through? And how do you aim to prove it one way or the other?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Settling Accounts: In at the Death", "slug": "settling-accounts-in-at-the-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 104, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Settling_Accounts:_The_Grapple_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:55" }, { "id": "6de1beda-67ec-44e2-98ca-49018bc19f14", "slug": "of-course-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east/of-course-the", "text": "Of course, the Confederacy was also a Christian country…and what did that say about Christianity? Nothing good, she was sure.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Settling Accounts: Drive to the East", "slug": "settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 270, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Settling_Accounts:_Drive_to_the_East_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:54" }, { "id": "b9bdd5d7-0ff3-4a36-ad3a-761bfdbd9ce3", "slug": "the-holy-spirit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/agent-of-byzantium/the-holy-spirit", "text": "“The Holy Spirit will guide the assembled fathers to the truth,” the magistrianos said confidently. Being a veteran of years of bureaucratic infighting, he added, “Of course, we may have to help things along a bit.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Agent of Byzantium", "slug": "agent-of-byzantium", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/agent-of-byzantium" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 225, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "bureaucracy", "slug": "bureaucracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Agent_of_Byzantium_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:46" }, { "id": "352ee48d-bfe1-46c0-9131-afe5d37dff37", "slug": "mrs-joe-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations/mrs-joe-was", "text": "Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than the dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and some people do the same by religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "Great Expectations", "slug": "great-expectations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Great_Expectations#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:43" }, { "id": "e28ca67d-5e7b-48e6-8a74-37f1c080d67b", "slug": "with-the-advance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/with-the-advance", "text": "With the advance of knowledge, therefore, prayer and sacrifice assume the leading place in religious ritual; and magic; which once ranked with them as a legitimate equal, is gradually relegated to the background and sinks to the level of a black art.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" }, { "name": "prayer", "slug": "prayer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prayer" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "cd00b58e-05e5-4170-bab3-d4c0cf8f3f97", "slug": "ancient-magic-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/ancient-magic-was", "text": "Ancient magic was the very foundation of religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "cbfdc53b-7346-4099-b812-42effbf52373", "slug": "for-there-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/for-there-are", "text": "For there are strong grounds for thinking that, in the evolution of thought, magic has preceded religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "970ef94f-ca5f-47fd-819f-8613b853508f", "slug": "small-minds-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/small-minds-cannot", "text": "Small minds cannot grasp great ideas; to their narrow comprehension, their purblind vision, nothing seems really great and important but themselves. Such minds hardly rise into religion at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" }, { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "4e73ccf5-1008-4f3c-833c-b6309253f393", "slug": "for-myth-changes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/for-myth-changes", "text": "For myth changes while custom remains constant; men continue to do what their did before them, though the reasons on which their fathers acted have been long forgotten.The history of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason, to find a sound theory for an absurd practice.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "3015ee5c-34cb-4eda-8df0-76953e712ecf", "slug": "indeed-the-influence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/indeed-the-influence", "text": "Indeed the influence of music on the development of religion is a subject which would repay a sympathetic study.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "music", "slug": "music", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/music" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "14312d88-410d-457e-9e11-2ba9a2a8d6d2", "slug": "when-a-tree", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/when-a-tree", "text": "When a tree comes to be viewed, no longer as the body of the tree spirit, but simply as its abode which it can quit at pleasure, an important advance has been made in religious thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "0bddccb2-4023-486f-a99c-41da91e9ff13", "slug": "by-religion-then", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/by-religion-then", "text": "By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "09c33514-cbb3-4d66-858a-8b22020b44c0", "slug": "if-the-test", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/if-the-test", "text": "If the test of truth lay in a show of hands or a counting of heads, the system of magic might appeal, with far more reason than the Catholic Church, to the proud motto, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus [always, everywhere, and by all], as the sure and certain credential of its own infallibility.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "f29873de-3bab-4621-bbe7-543166a168a5", "slug": "that-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/that-is-the", "text": "“That is the god of jihad,” she said. “That is the god of crusades. They are identical except for their names.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Margarets", "slug": "the-margarets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 55, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Margarets_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:28" }, { "id": "4da56a3c-eabc-46c8-8fba-9fc9a5e3164e", "slug": "though-many-mortals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/though-many-mortals", "text": "“Though many mortals speak with authority concerning what their Members want—“Our Father wants us to sacrifice a bullock,” “Kali demands we garrote a passerby”—the desires and demands of the gods are always determined by the desires and demands of the people. Whatever the prophet or priesthood comes up with, the gods parrot.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Margarets", "slug": "the-margarets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 53, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Margarets_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:28" }, { "id": "1f56028d-d947-46f6-b63a-eae0841d81db", "slug": "you-dont-remember", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/you-dont-remember", "text": "You don’t remember your first ancestors. You have no memory of ninety-nine percent of what makes you what you are! Instead you have comfy baby-stories you tell yourselves to explain why you’re not good people. What sin you committed or how you didn’t do with this god or that god told you. Instead of learning how not to be bad, you learn how to be forgiven and carried off to heaven. Most of you find it easier to believe the baby-stories than to learn from history and science, because it takes brains and hard study to understand history and science, but the stories are simple and comfy. People who want things easy and comfy resent people who study things. They teach their children the comfy stories and tell them not to worry about studying, just buy a ticket to go to heaven, and gradually, everyone becomes as ignorant as everyone else. It’s happened time after time on Earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Margarets", "slug": "the-margarets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 302, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Margarets_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:28" }, { "id": "aa6c61e7-0752-41d8-9bc5-00a2ef25ba7f", "slug": "as-everybodys-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/as-everybodys-god", "text": "“As everybody’s god, what will you do?” The doctor demanded.\n\n“You mean immediately?” asked the small god. “I will raise up prophets to make conflicting pronouncements that will inevitably be garbled in transcription, resulting in mutually exclusive definitions of orthodoxy from which the open-minded will flee in dismay...Also, I will be capricious. I’ll reward and punish arbitrarily. I’ll peek through bedroom windows and admonish what I see there, sometimes one thing, sometimes the opposite. I will have purposes men know nothing of, and when men begin to catch on to them, I will change them. This will convince some of your people that I am unreliable...Occasionally, I will do a conspicuous miracle to save one dying child while a thousand children starve elsewhere. This will convince sensible people I am perverse, and they will curse my name. Be sure to recruit those who do, they’ll be invaluable. Only by repudiating both devils and small gods will they ever know the Real One.\n\nI will be a sham, but not a snob. I will let every man, woman, or child, no matter how greedy or wicked, claim to have a personal relationship with me. In other words, I will be as arbitrary, inconsistent, ignorant, pushy, and common as humans are, and what more have they ever wanted in a god?”\n\n“The truth!” cried the doctor and Arnole, simultaneously...\n\n“Oh, tush, they never wanted anything of the kind. Creation has the truth written all over it—the age of the universe, the history of the world—but nine-tenths of mankind either don’t know it or think it’s a sham, because it isn’t what their book or their prophet says, and it isn’t cozy or manipulable enough.”\n\n”My people wanted truth,” said Nell, stiffly. “My friends.”\n\n“They were a minority. Not many years before the Happening, one of your country’s largest religious bodies officially declared that their book was holier than their God, thus simultaneously and corporately breaking several commandments of their own religion, particularly the first one. Of course they liked the book better! It was full of magic and contradictions that they could quote to reinforce their bigoted and hateful opinions, as I well know, for I chose many parts of it from among the scrolls and epistles that were lying around in caves here and there. They’re correct that a god picked out the material; they just have the wrong god doing it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 463, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "8283c66a-72e1-4236-9c37-cf31debb0319", "slug": "no-matter-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/no-matter-who", "text": "“No matter who I ask, they answer out of the Dicta! Even when it doesn’t fit.”\n\n“Doing such is not a new thing. In the former world, there were people who said all truth was contained in this or that holy book, this or that holy image, these or those holy beliefs. No matter how complicated their world became, no matter how much it changed, the only answers permitted were those that grew ever more tortuous and convoluted.”\n\n“Until?”\n\n“Until, some say, God turned his back on them for their failure to use the minds they had been given.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "698aed07-0b64-4d53-b95c-0cfdb12be47c", "slug": "magic-cried-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/magic-cried-the", "text": "“Magic!” cried the demon. “Miracle! What difference between the two?”\n\n“There is no difference at all,” said Galenor. “Except that people allow themselves to believe an event if it’s called a miracle while disdaining the same event if it’s called magic. Or vice versa.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 417, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "19d7c66d-2c70-467d-ab87-63cb1578dc6f", "slug": "even-when-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/even-when-you", "text": "“Even when you went to the moon, you didn’t go in search of truth. Oh, you said it was to learn about the universe, but you really went because you were playing a dominance game with another country. Once the other side no longer played the game, you only pretended to go on while actually you started the long slide back into magic and miracles.”\n\nNell said angrily, “Miracles are religion!”\n\n”It doesn’t matter what name you call it,” said the small god. “Magic or miracle, sorcery or religion, it’s all the same.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 460, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "magic", "slug": "magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "765f8113-b41c-4d85-aa77-a7fb1fea4144", "slug": "when-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco/when-i-was", "text": "When I was a kid, Mami told me the Mexican gods weren’t the only bloody ones, and we should never serve gods that had been invented to take the blame for everything bloody, painful, primitive and unenlightened that people wanted to do. Why did we Israelites kill every man, woman, child and beast in that city? Why, the Lord Jehovah commanded it. Why do we Spaniards steal food from these Indian people, and mutilated them, and use them as slaves? Why, we do it so they will love Christ! Why do we Aztecs torture and sacrifice people? Huitzilopotchli demands it!\n\nWhether it was the Israelites invading Canaan or the Spanish invading the Southwest, or one Mexican tribe warring against another, the answer was always the same. We enslave and torture and mutilate and kill in the name of our god.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Fresco", "slug": "the-fresco", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 390, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Fresco_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:26" }, { "id": "0ff0134c-9f53-4474-9b31-edd1ca79ff42", "slug": "some-professor-of-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco/some-professor-of-history", "text": "Some professor of history wrote that cultures define their gods when they’re young and primitive, when their main concern is survival. They endow their gods with survival characteristics like omnipotence and authoritarianism, belligerence and suspicion, and that’s what goes into all their myths or scriptures. Then, if they survive long enough, they begin to develop morality. They examine their own history, and they learn that authoritarianism doesn’t accord with free will, that belligerence and suspicion are unhealthful, but this newly moral culture is stuck with its bigoted, interfering gods, plus it’s stuck with people who prefer the old bloody gods and use them as their justification for doing all kinds of awful things.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Fresco", "slug": "the-fresco", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 102, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Fresco_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:26" }, { "id": "0f7d2019-b0f8-4019-976c-838d6a5652c6", "slug": "it-is-far", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco/it-is-far", "text": "It is far more important to establish a civil and orderly society than it is to pander to abusive cultural and religious artifacts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Fresco", "slug": "the-fresco", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 293, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Fresco_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:26" }, { "id": "cab26897-8eb0-4217-ab60-d904ebd63f1e", "slug": "most-gods-of-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end/most-gods-of-most", "text": "“Most gods of most worlds have human faces.”\n\n“Because men make them in their image,” Lutha remarked, somewhat bitterly. “To grant mankind license to do what we would do anyway.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Shadow’s End", "slug": "shadows-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 421, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Shadow's_End_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:24" }, { "id": "ba1d4d45-e58a-4a5b-a37b-c963a5e9f526", "slug": "godmongers-have-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end/godmongers-have-always", "text": "Godmongers have always found it easy to pay for their beliefs with women’s lives.…", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Shadow’s End", "slug": "shadows-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 300, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Shadow's_End_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:24" }, { "id": "4d62b293-a95a-45c1-b137-035896cba705", "slug": "fearful-people-develop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end/fearful-people-develop", "text": "Fearful people develop their religions as protective devices, ways to manipulate hostile environments, formulas for identifying and defeating their enemies. The more fearful people are, the more enemies they have, the more adversarial language they use.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Shadow’s End", "slug": "shadows-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 109, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "enemies", "slug": "enemies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/enemies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Shadow's_End_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:24" }, { "id": "4cb4d9fe-c494-4c23-a72c-88b2042f1c08", "slug": "also-the-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end/also-the-god", "text": "Also, the god often resembles his followers in behavior and feelings. Angry people have angry gods and vindictive people have vindictive gods, and so forth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Shadow’s End", "slug": "shadows-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 109, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Shadow's_End_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:24" }, { "id": "abfe24da-3548-4a8f-958f-814a3b717512", "slug": "here-priests-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/here-priests-and", "text": "Here priests and prophets are doing what priests and prophets have always done, forbidding their people to become anything except what they already are! No interference. God, what foolishness!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 325, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "596cda7f-147a-449b-a7db-b9523bf53361", "slug": "orimar-breaze-also", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/orimar-breaze-also", "text": "Orimar Breaze also considered his godhood. His followers would be called Breazians. He would demand behaviors and customs peculiar to himself. He would make rules, complicated rules, and many of them, that would take a lot of time and trouble and pain to keep. The only way he could know that his people truly loved him would be if they obeyed many onerous rules. There should be many rituals, also, rituals for everything. Much crawling. He liked the idea of crawling. Slithering, even. Also, abstentions from…from anything pleasurable.\n\nHe tried to remember what things were pleasurable. What were they? It had been such a long…so many…so… Was it sex? He seemed to remember it was sex. And food. Food had been pleasurable. So, he would make many rules about sex, many rules about food. If the rules were difficult enough, they would because for much backsliding, and that, and its turn, would be cause for much reproval! He would force…He would make people…He would punish them until they…\n\nThough he could not remember the taste of food or wine, the feel of love, the joys of human movement, he felt a surge of pure pleasure at the idea of power. He would conduct himself properly as a god, using sweet and seductive words at first; then, if that failed, using power and pain to teach his people to adore him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 401, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "2fc3e395-d19d-4bc2-bab0-98019b5424a0", "slug": "as-good-catholic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/as-good-catholic", "text": "“As good Catholic children, our destiny was to be guilty over sex, to have lots of babies, and to partake of the sacraments sufficiently often to assure that we’d go to heaven when we died.”\n\n“Right,” said Bertran. “And in the fundamentalist church down the block, they learned their destiny was to be guilty over sex, to worship the flag (in defiance of the first and second commandments), and to be born again sufficiently often to assure they’d go to heaven when they died, though I’m not sure whether it was the same heaven or not. In fact, the only real difference between us and them was whether we ranked sperm or the flag slightly ahead of god.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 360, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "2bbf4faa-735c-4e80-813d-754cfd706007", "slug": "derbeck-is-a-theocracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/derbeck-is-a-theocracy", "text": "Derbeck is a theocracy based on religious and political orthodoxy. Arbitrary executions and torture are integral to such systems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 166, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "26b78482-ff8a-4445-90fd-9634b443745a", "slug": "man-has-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/man-has-always", "text": "Man has always tortured in the name of his gods and committed atrocities in the name of his culture.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 438, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "269432bf-acdd-4c11-8a58-5e8a168d9a29", "slug": "i-have-noticed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/beauty/i-have-noticed", "text": "I have noticed that cats are little impressed by religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/beauty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "cats", "slug": "cats", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cats" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Beauty_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "eee9086a-5b7f-4f17-93e1-b2430b6927a7", "slug": "the-prophetess-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/the-prophetess-had", "text": "The prophetess had declared it a sin to believe in absolute truths, but the Scrutators claimed that didn’t apply to religious truths, of which they had manufactured a good supply over the centuries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 184, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "e22144b8-4d7e-4dbf-924e-04d786d64f24", "slug": "ire-and-iron", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/ire-and-iron", "text": "Ire and Iron and Voorstod, the three peoples who had followed Voorstod the prophet away from Manhome. Voorstod with its pastors, Ire with its priests, and Iron with its prophets: the first to rule the slaves, the second to rule the women, the last to rule the men—to rule the men, or to be used by the men, to rule. That had always been the way of men’s Gods, old men’s Gods. To use the Gods to rule.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 504, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "cd824d92-6c24-40f6-b11f-1de7b8478a03", "slug": "i-think-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/i-think-that", "text": "I think that some people are hardwired a certain way, and they invent religions to go along with the way they are. Like they are hardwired for bigotry or violence or being ignorant—or maybe ignorance is just a kind of bigotry. People say they don’t want to know a complicated truth, you know, because they already believe something simple, some thing that’s easier on their minds.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 398, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" }, { "name": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "88ac51dd-4c85-42f7-92dd-f394eb3018cf", "slug": "most-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/most-of-the", "text": "“Most of the monotheisms were tribal, pastoral, retributive religions that committed holocausts and built pyramids of skulls and conducted organized murder for a few thousand years, so there were lots of opportunities for one guy’s god to fight some other guy’s god. Each tribal religion claimed that its god was the One True God. Every prophet had his own idea about what that meant, of course, and as a result man was always being jerked around between different people’s ideas of god, depending on who’d won the most recent war, or palace coup, or political battle.\n\n“This meant mankind was always being asked to accept deities foreign to his own nature. I mean, if your prophet was sexually insecure, or if his later interpreters were, that religion demanded celibacy or repression or even hatred of women; if the prophet was a homophobe, he preached persecution of homosexuals; and if he was both lecherous and greedy, he preached polygyny. If he was luxurious, he preached give-me-money-and-God-will-make-you-rich; if he felt put upon he preached God-of-Vengeance, let’s kill the other guy; and no matter how much well-meaning ecumenicists pretended all the gods were one god under different aspects, they weren’t any such thing, because every prophet created God in his own image, to confront his own nightmares.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 107, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "73943e95-8bd1-40da-be8d-6331ef89e4d5", "slug": "old-mens-religions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/old-mens-religions", "text": "Old men’s religions and old men’s legends, always elsewhere, in the dark, so they could not be seen too clearly. So they could not be examined too closely. So they could go on, breeding, fulminating, burning, and rotting in the dark.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 505, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "6e8a2f20-f411-4463-a6c8-8cd22f0be770", "slug": "mostly-its-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/mostly-its-just", "text": "“Mostly it’s just that you’re not one of us. If you’re not one of us, you’re an unbeliever. Everyone not part of us is part of the devil: you, the people of Ahabar, the people of Phansure, everyone. Our Cause is to destroy the devil, all of it. We’re the only true followers of God. We have the truth. It was revealed to us, long ago, on Manhome.”…\n\n“You believe that, too?”\n\n“Of course I believe it. It is my Cause. It was my father’s Cause, and his father’s before him. Even on Manhome we killed the unbelievers.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 362, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "54b40c8e-c1cb-456a-b500-a09ceabf95e4", "slug": "thats-why-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/thats-why-they", "text": "That’s why they become prophets. Why would you want to be one, otherwise? Why would you want to scream your head off and threaten people with death and torture and Hell and make women cover themselves up unless you were hardwired for being crazy? The point is, if somebody’s hardwired and you’re not, the only thing he’ll let you be is a follower. If an ordinary person tries to talk to a hardwired person and be nice to him, it doesn’t do any good. It’s like being nice to a fruit-plucking machine. It’ll pluck out your eyes if you get in the way, no matter how fast you talk or how nice you are. Punishment doesn’t work, and talking to them won’t work, and arguing with them won’t work, any more than arguing with a plucking machine would work.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 398, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "23972e6a-7c82-4d31-8174-0327a4771c20", "slug": "early-on-of-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/early-on-of-course", "text": "“Early on, of course, it was assumed that there were lots of gods who caused various things, and one needed access to them to propitiate them or ask them to undo what some other god had done or, in rarer cases, to say thank you. Since there were lots of them, one always had a god to go to if some other one was acting up. Not a bad state of affairs, really, very much the system Phansure has today. Of course, it carried the seeds of its own destruction, because some of the priests that rose up around the man-gods got carried away with their own greed or need for power.\n\n“So, some of them became prophets, each of them claiming his particular god—or some new one he’d thought up – what is the biggest or the best or the only. Sometimes they said God was all-good or all-powerful or all-something-or-other or even, God knows, all-everything, which inevitably created dualism, because if God was all-everything, why did these contrary things keep happening? This required that man postulate some other force responsible for contrariness, either a sub-god or a bad angel or man himself, just being sinful, and that placed man squarely in the middle of this cosmic battlefield, always been told it was his fault when things went wrong.\n\n“And as long as man was in the middle, nothing could happen but a kind of tug-of-war. Man constantly prayed to God for peace, but peace never happened, so he decided that his god must really want war because the other side was sinful. Man invented and extolled virtues which could only be exemplified under conditions of war, like heroism and gallantry and honor, and he gave himself laurel wreaths or booty or medals for such things, thus rewarding himself for behaving well while sinning. He did it when he was a primitive, and he went on with it after he thought he was civilized.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 106, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "15427199-b4b2-4618-ae23-7c45b2ab14e0", "slug": "as-with-other", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones/as-with-other", "text": "As with other peoples who had focused their lives upon wrongs in the past and heaven in the future, Voorstod made an everlasting hell of the present.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Raising The Stones", "slug": "raising-the-stones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/raising-the-stones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 84, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" }, { "name": "the present", "slug": "the-present", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Raising_the_Stones_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:22" }, { "id": "77bd80fd-57f3-4cb3-8d2f-c741d10299b1", "slug": "history-upon-terra", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/grass/history-upon-terra", "text": "History upon Terra tells us what horrors follow upon religious mandates of unlimited reproduction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Grass", "slug": "grass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/grass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 250, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Grass_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:21" }, { "id": "b7f42209-97d9-48dd-afce-fdfaccb55669", "slug": "the-difference-between", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/marianne-the-magus-and-the-manticore/the-difference-between", "text": "The difference between a true religion—and there are many which share aspects of truth—and a dangerous cult is only this: In the one the individual is freed to grow and live and learn; in the other the individual is subordinated to the will of a hierarchy, enslaved to the purposes of that hierarchy, forbidden to learn except what the cult would teach. You have only to look at the rules which govern the servants of a religion to know whether its god is God indeed, or devil!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Marianne, the Magus and the Manticore", "slug": "marianne-the-magus-and-the-manticore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/marianne-the-magus-and-the-manticore" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 69, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Marianne,_the_Magus,_and_the_Manticore_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:20" }, { "id": "64368349-7a27-4a0f-984c-0eae398f0ead", "slug": "well-why-didnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/dervish-daughter/well-why-didnt", "text": "“Well, why didn’t the silly Bloomians think of that?”\n\n“Religion, I imagine, friend Chance. Religion serves to prevent thought in many cases, and I’d say it had done so here. They started with the presumption that anything as complex as the mill must exist for a good reason. Then they spent all their time inventing a good reason—and some god to be responsible for it—rather than looking for a sensible solution to their problem.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Dervish Daughter", "slug": "dervish-daughter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/dervish-daughter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Dervish_Daughter_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:19" }, { "id": "e5e5fcd0-d6eb-42dd-94f2-85e964f624a5", "slug": "there-is-a-kind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped/there-is-a-kind", "text": "There is a kind of animal frenzy can be whipped up sometimes among fools and children, often using religion as an excuse for it. When it happens, it is wise to be elsewhere.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped", "slug": "the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "crowd", "slug": "crowd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/crowd" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Flight_of_Mavin_Manyshaped_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:18" }, { "id": "1f1b6af6-8419-476f-9693-1183c8152aee", "slug": "merced-flushed-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped/merced-flushed-you", "text": "Merced flushed. “You mock me, Messenger.”\n\n“I instruct you, Priest. Pay heed. When you believe that messengers arrive from God, it is wise to listen to everything they say, not merely when they recite accepted doctrine.” She was ashamed of herself almost immediately. He turned so pale, so wan. Well. It was only as she had suspected from the beginning. Many men had a strong tendency to tell God how to behave, and religious men were more addicted to this habit than most.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped", "slug": "the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-flight-of-mavin-manyshaped" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 152, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Flight_of_Mavin_Manyshaped_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:18" }, { "id": "b77f726a-7a8a-430c-983f-178840f2af29", "slug": "it-seems-a-cold", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-paolini/eldest/it-seems-a-cold", "text": "\"It seems a cold world without something … more.\"\n\n\"On the contrary,\" said Oromis, \"it is a better world . A place where we are responsible for our own actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment. I won't tell you what to believe, Eragon. It is far better to be taught to think critically and then be allowed to make your own decisions than to have someone else's notions thrust upon you. You asked after our religion, and I have answered you true. Make of it what you will.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Paolini", "slug": "christopher-paolini", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-paolini" }, "book": { "title": "Eldest", "slug": "eldest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-paolini/eldest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Paolini#Eldest_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:14" }, { "id": "1f012120-9a0c-44b1-8400-04a0d389074e", "slug": "a-society-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology/a-society-like", "text": "A society like the Church, which claims to be Divine is perhaps more dangerous on account of the ersatz good which it contains then on account of the evil which sullies it.\n\nSomething of the social labelled divine: an intoxicating mixture which carries with it every sort of license. Devil disguised.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone Weil", "slug": "simone-weil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil" }, "book": { "title": "Simone Weil: An Anthology", "slug": "simone-weil-an-anthology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 122, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "the church", "slug": "the-church", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-church" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil#The_Great_Beast_(1947)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:13" }, { "id": "35bdbd37-f9e7-47eb-aa81-877b5730ee43", "slug": "jarrett-would-be-easier", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents/jarrett-would-be-easier", "text": "Jarrett would be easier to take if he cared half as much about children’s bodies and minds as he pretends to care about their souls.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Parable of the Talents", "slug": "parable-of-the-talents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 391, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Parable_of_the_Talents_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:11" }, { "id": "2284eea1-89d4-4101-a711-faa7436fc11a", "slug": "all-religions-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents/all-religions-are", "text": "All religions are ultimately cargo cults.\n\nAdherents perform required rituals, follow\n\nspecific rules, and expect to be supernaturally\n\ngifted with desired rewards—long life,\n\nhonor, wisdom, children, good health, wealth,\n\nvictory over opponents, immortality after\n\ndeath, any desired rewards.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Parable of the Talents", "slug": "parable-of-the-talents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 357, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Parable_of_the_Talents_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:11" }, { "id": "17461ae7-8792-441a-92a9-a0e73954b31a", "slug": "we-were-snatched", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents/we-were-snatched", "text": "We were snatched away and given alone into the hands of people who believed that it was their duty to break us and remake us in the Christian American image. And, of course, breaking people is much easier than putting them together again.\n\nSo much agony caused, so much evil done in God’s name.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Parable of the Talents", "slug": "parable-of-the-talents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-talents" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 288, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Parable_of_the_Talents_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:11" }, { "id": "75786900-ba31-4440-a013-446d3b491a31", "slug": "a-lot-of-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/a-lot-of-people", "text": "A lot of people seem to believe in a big-daddy-God or a big-cop-God or a big-king-God. They believe in a kind of superperson. A few believe God is another word for nature. And nature turns out to mean just about anything they happen not to understand or feel in control of.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Parable of the Sower", "slug": "parable-of-the-sower", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Parable_of_the_Sower_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:10" }, { "id": "09a437aa-c57d-4ace-b05b-cc5e9a688402", "slug": "what-were-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/wild-seed/what-were-they", "text": "“What were they saying?” Daly asked.\n\n“They disapprove of your profession,” Doro told him.\n\n“Heathen savages,” Daly muttered. “They’re like animals. They’re all cannibals.”\n\n“These aren’t,” Doro said, “though some of the their neighbors are.”\n\n“All of them,” Daly insisted. “Just give them the chance.”\n\nDoro smiled. “Well, no doubt the missionaries will reach them eventually and teach them to practice only symbolic cannibalism.”\n\nDaly jumped. He considered himself a pious man in spite of his work. “You shouldn’t say such things,” he whispered. “Not even you are beyond the reach of God.”\n\n“Spare me your mythology,” Doro said, “and your righteous indignation.” Daly had been Doro’s man too long to be pampered in such matters. “At least we cannibals are honest about what we do,” Doro continued. “We don’t pretend as your slavers do to be acting for the benefit of our victims’ souls. We don’t tell ourselves we’ve caught them to teach them civilized religion.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Wild Seed", "slug": "wild-seed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/wild-seed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Wild_Seed_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:09" }, { "id": "f6b52ea3-cefa-41bf-bc2d-e62016d9c5bf", "slug": "jehovah-it-seems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/king-jesus/jehovah-it-seems", "text": "Jehovah, it seems clear, was once regarded as a devoted son of the Great Goddess, who obeyed her in all things and by her favor swallowed up a number of variously named rival gods and godlings — the Terebinth-god, the Thunder-god, the Pomegranate-god, the Bull-god, the Goat-god, the Antelope-god, the Calf-god, the Porpoise-god, the Ram-god, the Ass-god, the Barley-god, the god of Healing, the Moon-god, the god of the Dog-star, the Sun-god. Later (if it is permitted to write in this style) he did exactly what his Roman counterpart, Capitoline Jove, has done: he formed a supernal Trinity in conjunction with two of the Goddess's three persons, namely, Anatha of the Lions and Ashima of the Doves, the counterparts of Juno and Minerva; the remaining person, a sort of Hecate named Sheol, retiring to rule the infernal regions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Graves", "slug": "robert-graves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves" }, "book": { "title": "King Jesus", "slug": "king-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/king-jesus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "mythology", "slug": "mythology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves#King_Jesus_(1946)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:06" }, { "id": "61a594d1-b2a7-4b9c-9140-e65a6729c360", "slug": "by-jesuss-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/king-jesus/by-jesuss-time", "text": "By Jesus’s time the Law of Moses, originally established for the government of a semi-barbarous nation of herdsmen and hill-farmers, resembled a petulant great-grandfather who tries to govern a family business from his sick-bed in the chimney-corner, unaware of the changes that have taken place in the world since he was able to get about: his authority must not be questioned, yet his orders, since no longer relevant, must be reinterpreted in another sense, if the business is not to go bankrupt. When the old man says, for instance: “It is time for the women to grind their lapfuls of millet in the querns,” this is taken to mean: “It is time to send the sacks of wheat to the water-mill.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Graves", "slug": "robert-graves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves" }, "book": { "title": "King Jesus", "slug": "king-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/king-jesus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves#King_Jesus_(1946)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:06" }, { "id": "cc9a31c8-3920-4d91-9684-4878df2c43d4", "slug": "hardly-one-soldier", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/goodbye-to-all-that/hardly-one-soldier", "text": "Hardly one soldier in a hundred was inspired by religious feeling of even the crudest kind. It would have been difficult to remain religious in the trenches even if one had survived the irreligion of the training battalion at home.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Graves", "slug": "robert-graves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves" }, "book": { "title": "Goodbye to All That", "slug": "goodbye-to-all-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-graves/goodbye-to-all-that" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves#Goodbye_to_All_That_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:04" }, { "id": "70837315-64e9-49bf-bc93-f058b69671eb", "slug": "christianity-has-operated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/the-fire-next-time/christianity-has-operated", "text": "Christianity has operated with an unmitigated arrogance and cruelty — necessarily, since a religion ordinarily imposes on those who have discovered the true faith the spiritual duty of liberating the infidels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Baldwin", "slug": "james-baldwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin" }, "book": { "title": "The Fire Next Time", "slug": "the-fire-next-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/the-fire-next-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "arrogance", "slug": "arrogance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/arrogance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin#%22Letter_from_a_Region_of_My_Mind%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:59" }, { "id": "17326372-5d49-4422-b42a-64f7c71d718a", "slug": "i-think-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/boris-pasternak/doctor-zhivago/i-think-that", "text": "I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But don’t you see, this is just the point — what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful attraction of its example. It has always been assumed that the most important things in the Gospels are the ethical maxims and commandments. But for me the most important thing is that Christ speaks in parables taken from life, that He explains the truth in terms of everyday reality. The idea that underlies this is that communion between mortals is immortal, and that the whole of life is symbolic because it is meaningful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Boris Pasternak", "slug": "boris-pasternak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/boris-pasternak" }, "book": { "title": "Doctor Zhivago", "slug": "doctor-zhivago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/boris-pasternak/doctor-zhivago" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boris_Pasternak#Doctor_Zhivago_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:57" }, { "id": "e8b26cb7-d8be-44e6-a443-2a48d5aec66e", "slug": "and-so-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/and-so-the", "text": "And so the fighting retreat continues. Each time science advances, a new bastion forms…a new line, defining some remnant territory to be kept forever holy, mystical, and vague. Safe from profane hands. Until the next scientific advance, that is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Brin", "slug": "david-brin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin" }, "book": { "title": "Kil’n People", "slug": "kiln-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 252, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Kiln_People_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:46" }, { "id": "46fe3450-4012-4434-9117-3127c8e6e8c7", "slug": "yet-where-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/yet-where-were", "text": "Yet where were answers to the truly deep questions?\n\nReligion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don’t look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Brin", "slug": "david-brin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin" }, "book": { "title": "Kil’n People", "slug": "kiln-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 482, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Kiln_People_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:46" }, { "id": "8c7e578c-ce97-42cf-b555-5115eec0e000", "slug": "maia-recognized-a-look", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/glory-season/maia-recognized-a-look", "text": "Maia recognized a look of true religion in the other woman’s eyes. A version and interpretation that conveniently justified what had already been decided.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Brin", "slug": "david-brin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin" }, "book": { "title": "Glory Season", "slug": "glory-season", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/glory-season" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 240, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Glory_Season_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:45" }, { "id": "23acc5c9-fbc4-4373-b658-9a811271c212", "slug": "on-this-occasion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/earth/on-this-occasion", "text": "On this occasion, despite the wind and sparkling stars, they looked just like huge chunks of stone, pathetically chiseled by desperate folk to resemble stern gods. People did bizarre things when they were afraid...as most men and women had been for nearly all the time since the species evolved.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Brin", "slug": "david-brin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin" }, "book": { "title": "Earth", "slug": "earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 480, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Earth_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:44" }, { "id": "e70db37a-ac52-4b7f-ba01-1ebf88883033", "slug": "and-what-would", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates/and-what-would", "text": "\"And what would our ideas of God, of religion, be like if they had come to us through the minds of women? Ever think of that?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Robbins", "slug": "tom-robbins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins" }, "book": { "title": "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates", "slug": "fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins#Fierce_Invalids_Home_from_Hot_Climates_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:39" }, { "id": "e2b7be35-452f-47ca-ad87-0e3629b10879", "slug": "ive-always-assumed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates/ive-always-assumed", "text": "I've always assumed that every time a child is born, the Divine reenters the world. Okay? That's the meaning of the Christmas story. And every time that child's purity is corrupted by society, that's the meaning of the Crucifixion story. Your man Jesus stands for that child, that pure spirit, and as its surrogate, he's being born and put to death again and again, over and over, every time we inhale and exhale, not just at the vernal equinox and on the twenty-fifth of December.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Robbins", "slug": "tom-robbins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins" }, "book": { "title": "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates", "slug": "fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins#Fierce_Invalids_Home_from_Hot_Climates_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:39" }, { "id": "c161bd57-ca51-450b-b77e-0a8d64582e36", "slug": "to-emphasize-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/skinny-legs-and-all/to-emphasize-the", "text": "...to emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on heaven is to create hell.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Robbins", "slug": "tom-robbins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins" }, "book": { "title": "Skinny Legs and All", "slug": "skinny-legs-and-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/skinny-legs-and-all" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins#Skinny_Legs_and_All_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:38" }, { "id": "b29e0be4-0488-4268-b560-89e0e6495a2f", "slug": "religion-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/skinny-legs-and-all/religion-is-not", "text": "Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Robbins", "slug": "tom-robbins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins" }, "book": { "title": "Skinny Legs and All", "slug": "skinny-legs-and-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/skinny-legs-and-all" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins#Skinny_Legs_and_All_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:38" }, { "id": "f346b65b-e1eb-4392-b299-19ef81b9ec6c", "slug": "it-was-even", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/it-was-even", "text": "It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. You are, of course, free to interpret the Bible differently—though isn't it amazing that you have succeeded in discerning the true teachings of Christianity, while the most influential thinkers in the history of your faith failed?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "e7841c31-bfe1-4c54-98ff-d1157b28c3be", "slug": "one-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/one-of-the", "text": "One of the enduring pathologies of human culture is the tendency to raise children to fear and demonize other human beings on the basis of religious faith.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 80, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "7f21e7ac-b6a2-44cc-bfc4-f97873ac1ff6", "slug": "mahavira-the-jain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/mahavira-the-jain", "text": "Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: \"Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.\" Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 23, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "6e69e046-2494-4d6a-9085-1ec3bab4303c", "slug": "the-moral-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/the-moral-truth", "text": "The moral truth here is obvious: anyone who feels that the interests of a blastocyst just might supersede the interests of a child with a spinal cord injury has had his moral sense blinded by religious metaphysics.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 32, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "64cb4648-a0d3-45b0-afa3-fe21e1bd8f9d", "slug": "some-researchers-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/some-researchers-have", "text": "Some researchers have speculated that religion itself may have played an important role in getting large groups of prehistoric humans to socially cohere. If this is true, we can say that religion has served an important purpose. This does not suggest, however, that it serves an important purpose now. There is, after all, nothing more natural than rape. But no one would argue that rape is good, or compatible with a civil society, because it may have had evolutionary advantages for our ancestors. That religion may have served some necessary function for us in the past does not preclude the possibility that it is now the greatest impediment to our building a global civilization.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 90, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "48a32c52-a617-4570-a27f-69c730c63c74", "slug": "it-is-therefore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/it-is-therefore", "text": "It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that if the city of New York were replaced by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see a silver lining in the subsequent mushroom cloud, as it would suggest to them that the best thing that is ever going to happen was about to happen: the return of Christ. It should be blindingly obvious that beliefs of this sort will do little to help us create a durable future for ourselves- socially, economically, environmentally, or geopolitically.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sam Harris", "slug": "sam-harris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris" }, "book": { "title": "Letter to a Christian Nation", "slug": "letter-to-a-christian-nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Letter_to_a_Christian_Nation_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "ea511d06-79ea-47aa-83ce-f6a52915a8c6", "slug": "for-the-sin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-scott-bakker/the-warrior-prophet/for-the-sin", "text": "... for the sin of the idolator is not that he worships stone, but that he worships one stone over others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. Scott Bakker", "slug": "r-scott-bakker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-scott-bakker" }, "book": { "title": "The Warrior-Prophet", "slug": "the-warrior-prophet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-scott-bakker/the-warrior-prophet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Warrior_Prophet#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:30" }, { "id": "304bd838-3664-4da7-ae4e-60e951ace190", "slug": "jesus-hath-many", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ/jesus-hath-many", "text": "Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Kempis", "slug": "thomas-kempis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis" }, "book": { "title": "The Imitation of Christ", "slug": "the-imitation-of-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_%C3%A0_Kempis#The_Imitation_of_Christ_(c._1418)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:27" }, { "id": "bead7fbd-dc6a-4389-9810-cf4838fd079f", "slug": "of-a-surety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ/of-a-surety", "text": "Of a surety, at the Day of Judgment it will be demanded of us, not what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how holily we have lived.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Kempis", "slug": "thomas-kempis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis" }, "book": { "title": "The Imitation of Christ", "slug": "the-imitation-of-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "taking action", "slug": "taking-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_%C3%A0_Kempis#The_Imitation_of_Christ_(c._1418)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:26" }, { "id": "b91a09a2-9392-4050-8719-b73ada27439f", "slug": "religion-mysticism-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-occult/religion-mysticism-and", "text": "Religion, mysticism and magic all spring from the same basic 'feeling' about the universe: a sudden feeling of meaning, which human beings sometimes 'pick up' accidentally, as your radio might pick up some unknown station. Poets feel that we are cut off from meaning by a thick, lead wall, and that sometimes for no reason we can understand the wall seems to vanish and we are suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of the infinite interestingness of things.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Colin Wilson", "slug": "colin-wilson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson" }, "book": { "title": "The Occult", "slug": "the-occult", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-occult" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" }, { "name": "mysticism", "slug": "mysticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mysticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson#The_Occult:_A_History_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:22" }, { "id": "3b3172be-1157-4e17-9c92-e96ef5c6388d", "slug": "more-you-want", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bolt/a-man-for-all-seasons/more-you-want", "text": "More: You want me to swear to the Act of Succession?\n\nMargaret: \"God more regards the thoughts of the heart than the words of the mouth.\" Or so you've always told me.\n\nMore: Yes.\n\nMargaret: Then say the words of the oath and in your heart think otherwise.\n\nMore: What is an oath then but words we say to God?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Bolt", "slug": "robert-bolt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bolt" }, "book": { "title": "A Man for All Seasons", "slug": "a-man-for-all-seasons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bolt/a-man-for-all-seasons" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Bolt#A_Man_for_All_Seasons_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:21" }, { "id": "12386d17-7d05-44b6-90e0-d5800f1aedfc", "slug": "humanism-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider/humanism-is-only", "text": "Humanism is only another name for spiritual laziness, or a vague half-creed adopted by men of science and logicians whose heads are too occupied with the world of mathematics and physics to worry about religious categories.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Colin Wilson", "slug": "colin-wilson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson" }, "book": { "title": "The Outsider", "slug": "the-outsider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson#The_Outsider_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:21" }, { "id": "0ed9f0d1-9fd4-4eed-b1b8-c084cbfcb70b", "slug": "those-who-claim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce/those-who-claim", "text": "Those who claim a natural link between capitalism and democracy are cheating with the facts in the same way the Catholic Church cheats when it presents itself as the \"natural\"advocate of democracy and human rights against the threat of totalitarianism - as if it were not the case that the Church accepted democracy only at the end of the nineteenth century, and even then with clenched teeth, as a desperate compromise, making it clear that it preferred monarchy, and that it was making a reluctant concession to new times.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "First as Tragedy, Then as Farce", "slug": "first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#First_as_Tragedy,_Then_as_Farce_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:19" }, { "id": "8210d091-cc5e-4235-888c-24a790e6e845", "slug": "most-important-on-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race/most-important-on-the", "text": "Most important on the bearings of their life and the peace of their commonwealths, is their universal agreement in the existence of a merciful beneficent Diety, and of a future world to the duration of which a century or two are moments too brief to waste upon thoughts of fame and power and avarice; while with that agreement is combined another—viz., since they can know nothing as to the nature of that Diety beyond the fact of His supreme goodness, nor of that future world beyond the fact of its felicitous existence, so their reason forbids all angry disputes on insoluble questions. Thus they secure for that state in the bowels of the earth what no community ever secured under the light of the stars—all the blessings and consolations of a religion without any of the evils and calamities which are engendered by strife between one religion and another. (Chapter XXVI)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward George Bulwer-Lytton", "slug": "edward-george-bulwer-lytton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton" }, "book": { "title": "The Coming Race", "slug": "the-coming-race", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Coming_Race#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:10" }, { "id": "05ed382f-d3b6-4d8e-8020-fd5b61859e98", "slug": "now-if-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-law/a-serious-call-to-a-devout-and-holy-life/now-if-you", "text": "Now if you will stop here and ask yourself why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Law", "slug": "william-law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-law" }, "book": { "title": "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life", "slug": "a-serious-call-to-a-devout-and-holy-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-law/a-serious-call-to-a-devout-and-holy-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Law#A_Serious_Call_to_a_Devout_and_Holy_Life_(1728)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:07" }, { "id": "5be4f27d-848a-4154-9b6b-d2f98bbccab7", "slug": "in-politics-as-in-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/in-politics-as-in-religion", "text": "In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:05" }, { "id": "aa7f96c2-0dc3-4752-9697-bc6fdd2fee4d", "slug": "it-is-commonly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hardy/desperate-remedies/it-is-commonly", "text": "It is commonly said that no man was ever converted by argument, but there is a single one which will make any Laodicean in England, let him be once love-sick, wear prayer-books and become a zealous Episcopalian – the argument that his sweetheart can be seen from his pew.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hardy", "slug": "thomas-hardy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hardy" }, "book": { "title": "Desperate Remedies", "slug": "desperate-remedies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hardy/desperate-remedies" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy#Desperate_Remedies_(1871)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:58" }, { "id": "2e2a2c24-09e0-4a3e-b03b-39c4ce7a6f90", "slug": "the-yen-buddhists", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/witches-abroad/the-yen-buddhists", "text": "The Yen Buddhists are the richest religious sect in the universe. They hold that the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul. They therefore, regardless of personal hazard, see it as their unpleasant duty to acquire as much as possible in order to reduce the risk to innocent people. (p. 125)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Witches Abroad", "slug": "witches-abroad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/witches-abroad" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Witches_Abroad#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:57" }, { "id": "c45555cd-9a12-4f39-99ec-07de65d5a86d", "slug": "a-number-of-religions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/guards-guards/a-number-of-religions", "text": "A number of religions in Ankh-Morpork still practiced human sacrifice, except that they didn't really need to practice any more because they had got so good at it. (p. 265)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Guards! Guards!", "slug": "guards-guards", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/guards-guards" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Guards!_Guards!#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:55" }, { "id": "d8fdfcc7-b089-4acd-9095-0bd345596a75", "slug": "no-gods-anywhere", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/wyrd-sisters/no-gods-anywhere", "text": "No gods anywhere play chess. They haven't got the imagination. Gods prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight to Oblivion; A key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Wyrd Sisters", "slug": "wyrd-sisters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/wyrd-sisters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wyrd_Sisters#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:54" }, { "id": "1358bbfd-a7eb-46ba-b50b-a01f8dfe359a", "slug": "there-were-temples", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/mort/there-were-temples", "text": "There were temples, their doors wide open, filling the streets with the sound of gongs, cymbals and, in the case of some of the more conservative fundamentalist religions, the brief screams of the victims.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Mort", "slug": "mort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/mort" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mort#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:52" }, { "id": "e4e1e822-30c9-4987-855b-af177277eba9", "slug": "pax-vobiscum-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott/ivanhoe/pax-vobiscum-will", "text": "Pax vobiscum will answer all queries. If you go or come, eat or drink, bless or ban, Pax vobiscum carries you through it all. It is as useful to a friar as a broom-stick to a witch, or a wand to a conjuror.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Walter Scott", "slug": "walter-scott", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott" }, "book": { "title": "Ivanhoe", "slug": "ivanhoe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott/ivanhoe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Scott#Ivanhoe_(1819)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:49" }, { "id": "46741c6b-bccd-48ce-b85c-0d97b4d435d4", "slug": "it-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/slaughterhouse-five/it-was-the", "text": "It was The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. It was about a visitor from outer space... [who] made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low.\n\nBut the Gospels actually taught this:\n\nBefore you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.\n\nThe flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought...:\n\nOh, boy — they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!\n\nAnd that thought had a brother: \"There are right people to lynch.\" Who? People not well connected. So it goes.\n\nThe visitor from outer space made a gift to Earth of a new Gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other Gospels.\n\nSo the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couldn't possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that too, since the Gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was.\n\nAnd then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told the people that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of the Son of the Creator of the Universe throughout all eternity. God said this:\n\nFrom this moment on, He will punish horribly anybody who torments a bum who has no connections! (pp. 108-110)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Slaughterhouse-Five", "slug": "slaughterhouse-five", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/slaughterhouse-five" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five#Chapter_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:45" }, { "id": "1beac4b6-4b47-4242-bb65-10871f0982f3", "slug": "many-people-find", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/home/many-people-find", "text": "Many people find it hard to go to church if they've been away for a while. I've seen it very often. And I'd say to them, It's because it means something to you. As it should be! So, you see, there's no reason at all to be disappointed. I used to say, The Sabbath is faithful. In a week she'll be here again.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marilynne Robinson", "slug": "marilynne-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Home", "slug": "home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/home" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilynne_Robinson#Home_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:42" }, { "id": "ba6bff7a-927c-480a-b4b9-0a134b1c8bd2", "slug": "in-a-desperate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/manuscript-found-in-accra/in-a-desperate", "text": "In a desperate attempt to give meaning to life, many turn to religion, because a struggle in the name of a faith is always a justification for some grand action, which could transform the world. ‘We are doing God’s work,’ they tell themselves. And they become devout followers, then evangelists, and finally, fanatics. They don’t understand that religion was created in order to share the mystery and to worship, not to oppress or convert others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paulo Coelho", "slug": "paulo-coelho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho" }, "book": { "title": "Manuscript Found in Accra", "slug": "manuscript-found-in-accra", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/manuscript-found-in-accra" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho#Manuscript_Found_in_Accra_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:35" }, { "id": "759bc8b0-7547-4825-b068-16ac629017b1", "slug": "i-have-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/aleph/i-have-only", "text": "I have only one certainty: there exists a parallel spiritual universe that impinges on the world in which we live. Apart from that, everything else seems absurd to me—sacred books, revelations, guides, manuals, ceremonies … and, what is worse, they appear to have no lasting effects.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paulo Coelho", "slug": "paulo-coelho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho" }, "book": { "title": "Aleph", "slug": "aleph", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/aleph" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "spirituality", "slug": "spirituality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/spirituality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho#Aleph_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:33" }, { "id": "c1eab402-9c33-4a83-a041-8e28af790038", "slug": "man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/grace-slick/somebody-to-love/man-is-the", "text": "Man is the only animal that knows he's going to die, so we invent a heaven to keep from going crazy. Most people are hypnotized by organized religion from childhood.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Grace Slick", "slug": "grace-slick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/grace-slick" }, "book": { "title": "Somebody to Love?", "slug": "somebody-to-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/grace-slick/somebody-to-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Slick#Somebody_to_Love%3F_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:31" }, { "id": "20ad365a-535d-4b5c-8750-79166740ede7", "slug": "the-wise-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/the-wise-men", "text": "The wise men understood that this natural world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paulo Coelho", "slug": "paulo-coelho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho" }, "book": { "title": "The Alchemist", "slug": "the-alchemist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 151, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho#The_Alchemist_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:31" }, { "id": "c1d737e9-4985-45c3-a14d-adbfd83dc871", "slug": "the-more-a-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber/the-sociology-of-religion/the-more-a-religion", "text": "The more a religion is aware of its opposition in principle to economic rationalization as such, the more apt are the religion’s virtuosi to reject the world, especially its economic activities.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Weber", "slug": "max-weber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber" }, "book": { "title": "The Sociology of Religion", "slug": "the-sociology-of-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber/the-sociology-of-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 217, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "economy", "slug": "economy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/economy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Weber#Sociology_of_Religion_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:30" }, { "id": "40b4a156-0d92-4b78-8b11-122e6380cb5e", "slug": "it-is-above", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber/the-sociology-of-religion/it-is-above", "text": "It is above all the impersonal and economically rationalized (but for this very reason ethically irrational) character of purely commercial relationships that evokes the suspicion, never clearly expressed but all the more strongly felt, of ethical religions. For every purely personal relationship of man to man, of whatever sort and even including complete enslavement, may be subjected to ethical requirements and ethically regulated. This is true because the structures of these relationships depend upon the individual wills of the participants, leaving room in such relations for manifestations of the virtue of charity. But this is not the situation in the realm of economically rationalised relationships, where personal control is exercised in inverse ratio to the degree of rational differentiation of the economic structure.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Weber", "slug": "max-weber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber" }, "book": { "title": "The Sociology of Religion", "slug": "the-sociology-of-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-weber/the-sociology-of-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 216, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "economy", "slug": "economy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/economy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Weber#Sociology_of_Religion_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:30" }, { "id": "efabf9a4-e854-43e7-acc9-69c45d8288fb", "slug": "in-the-last", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution/in-the-last", "text": "In the last centuries of the empire, educational standards and literacy had fallen. In the dulled heads of the masses, distracted by cheap food and the barbaric spectacles of the coliseums, the values on which Rome had been founded and the ancient rationalism of the Greeks had been replaced by mysticism and superstition. It was—Honorius had explained to his pupil—as if a whole culture was losing its mind. People were forgetting how to think, and soon they would forget they had forgotten. And, to Honorius’s thinking, Christianity only exacerbated that problem.\n\n“You know, Augustine warned us that belief in the old myths was fading—even a century and a half ago, as the dogma of the Christians took root. And with the loss of the myths, so vanishes the learning of a thousand years, which are codified in those myths, and the monolithic dogmas of the Church will snuff out rational inquiry for ten more centuries. The light is fading, Athalric.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 502, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "civilization", "slug": "civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Evolution_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:24" }, { "id": "902511c4-a731-4b60-9b22-7caa25743323", "slug": "a-growing-belief", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution/a-growing-belief", "text": "A growing belief that behind every event lay intention—be it an evil thought in the mind of another, or the benevolent whim of a god in the sky—was perhaps inevitable in creatures with an innate understanding of causality. If you were smart enough to make multicomponent tools, you eventually came to believe in gods, the end of all causal chains. There would be costs, of course. In the future, to serve their new gods and shamans, the people would have to sacrifice much: time, wealth, even the right to have children. Sometimes they would even have to lay down their lives. But the payback was that they no longer had to be afraid of dying.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 370, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Evolution_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:24" }, { "id": "7c474854-abf5-4705-8976-bbb981d7f2a7", "slug": "try-to-remember", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/ring/try-to-remember", "text": "Try to remember this lesson. It might keep you alive a little longer. The most precious thing to a human being is a mind-set: more precious than one’s own life, even. Human history has taught us that lesson time and again, with its endless parade of wars—human sacrifices en masse—thousands of deaths over the most trivial of differences of religious interpretation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Ring", "slug": "ring", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/ring" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 669, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "beliefs", "slug": "beliefs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Ring_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:24" }, { "id": "eb5ab3b0-f862-4b65-a1ee-aeeaa86bc22d", "slug": "and-at-times", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/and-at-times", "text": "And at times I'm tempted to think that our way and the Kirk's way is not God's way, for we're apt to treat the natural man as altogether corrupt, and put him under over-strict pains and penalties, whereas there's matter in him that might be shaped to the purposes of grace. If there's original sin, there's likewise original innocemce.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sin", "slug": "sin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sin" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "e06b2a4e-3270-4dfc-a2a7-291a96133961", "slug": "if-the-kirk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/if-the-kirk", "text": "If the Kirk confines human nature too strictly, it will break out in secret ways, for men and women are born into a terrestrial world, though they have hopes of Heaven.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "d1c8446f-496c-42a9-a6bb-103eee1c6f58", "slug": "the-profession-of-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/the-profession-of-religion", "text": "The profession of religion was not the same thing as godliness, and he was coming to doubt whether the insistence upon minute conformities of outward conduct and the hair-splitting doctrines were not devices of Satan to entangle souls.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "810621ad-e305-4217-aa2a-d852c49f7b62", "slug": "t-he-kirk-of-scotland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/t-he-kirk-of-scotland", "text": "[T]he Kirk of Scotland as at present guidit […] is a kind o' Papery wi' fifty Papes instead o' ane.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "0b0e417b-be0d-40b4-bb3d-3a8465534894", "slug": "i-am-a-minister", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/i-am-a-minister", "text": "I am a minister of Christ first and of the Kirk second. If the Kirk forgets its Master's teaching, we part company.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "conscience", "slug": "conscience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conscience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "d34ffda8-a880-4e82-946a-197bbc0b1628", "slug": "when-feminism-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/when-feminism-and", "text": "When feminism and gay activism set themselves against organized religion, they have the obligation to put something better in its place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sex, Art, and American Culture", "slug": "sex-art-and-american-culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 36, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "feminism", "slug": "feminism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sex,_Art_and_American_Culture_:_New_Essays_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:18" }, { "id": "21b3f3ce-0e24-4738-86dd-f9eb4ac476fe", "slug": "judaisms-campaign-to-make", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/judaisms-campaign-to-make", "text": "Judaism’s campaign to make divinity invisible has never fully succeeded. Images are always eluding moral control, creating the brilliant western art tradition. Idolatry is fascism of the eye. The western eye will be served, with or without the consent of conscience.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 139, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:17" }, { "id": "f7345cf1-a7a4-4c4d-91cc-b9c298041540", "slug": "human-life-began", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/human-life-began", "text": "Human life began in flight and fear. Religion rose from rituals of propitiation, spells to lull the punishing elements.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 1, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:16" }, { "id": "66a20447-70cc-436e-b0b5-fc985e41d8fd", "slug": "judaism-christianitys-parent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/judaism-christianitys-parent", "text": "Judaism, Christianity’s parent sect, is the most powerful of protests against nature. The Old Testament asserts that a father god made nature and that the differentiation into objects and gender was after the fact of his maleness. Judeo-Christianity, like Greek worship of the Olympian gods, is a sky-cult. It is an advanced stage in the history of religion, which everywhere began as earth-cult, veneration of fruitful nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:16" }, { "id": "6007af2b-446e-48ef-ab4a-15025fa5f63f", "slug": "the-bible-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/the-bible-has", "text": "The Bible has come under fire for making woman the fall guy in man's cosmic drama. But in casting a male conspirator, the serpent, as God's enemy, Genesis hedges and does not take its misogyny far enough. The Bible defensively swerves from God's true opponent, chthonian nature. The serpent is not outside Eve but in her. She is the garden and the serpent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:16" }, { "id": "7fa454c6-2ac1-453a-b3bc-3bec139708e6", "slug": "jehovah-and-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/dreams-evolution-and-value-fulfillment-volume-two/jehovah-and-the", "text": "Jehovah and the Christian version of God brought about a direct conflict between the so-called forces of good and the so-called forces of evil by largely cutting out all of the intermediary gods, and therefore destroying the subtle psychological give-and-take that occurred between them -- among them -- and polarizing man’s own view of his inner psychological reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Roberts", "slug": "jane-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "Dreams, Evolution, and Value Fulfillment, Volume Two", "slug": "dreams-evolution-and-value-fulfillment-volume-two", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/dreams-evolution-and-value-fulfillment-volume-two" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 400, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Roberts#Dreams,_Evolution_and_Value_Fulfillment,_Volume_Two_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:15" }, { "id": "43569179-aa39-4b4c-8105-b93605348da2", "slug": "it-is-unfortunately", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/the-way-toward-health/it-is-unfortunately", "text": "It is unfortunately often - but not always - true that individuals who carry strong religious feeling are often bothered more than usual by poor health and personal dilemmas. The fact is that religions have been the carriers of some of the best ideas that man has entertained - but it has also held most stubbornly to the most troublesome concepts that have plagued mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Roberts", "slug": "jane-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "The Way Toward Health", "slug": "the-way-toward-health", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/the-way-toward-health" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 310, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Roberts#The_Way_Toward_Health_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:15" }, { "id": "8a34b4f7-8f00-441d-8181-43678ec93f4b", "slug": "without-exception-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/the-individual-and-the-nature-of-mass-events/without-exception-all", "text": "Without exception, all of the horrors connected with Christianity’s name came from following the letter rather than the spirit of the law, or by insistence upon literal interpretations -- while the spiritual, imaginative concepts beneath were ignored.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Roberts", "slug": "jane-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events", "slug": "the-individual-and-the-nature-of-mass-events", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-roberts/the-individual-and-the-nature-of-mass-events" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 140, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Roberts#The_Individual_and_the_Nature_of_Mass_Events,_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:14" }, { "id": "a45114c0-5ec5-4ccc-b561-2510778b4bec", "slug": "are-you-a-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/are-you-a-religious", "text": "“Are you a religious man, Joe?”\n\nFlitch pulled a face. “I leaves that sort of thing to women.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brian Aldiss", "slug": "brian-aldiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss" }, "book": { "title": "Greybeard", "slug": "greybeard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 149, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss#Greybeard_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:12" }, { "id": "5923ea97-c8fa-4751-a236-8d2c6562f6fd", "slug": "thats-one-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/thats-one-thing", "text": "That’s one thing about these religious boys—they reckon that if they are on God’s side, then the enemy must be on the devil’s, and so they have no qualms about giving it to ’em hot and strong.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brian Aldiss", "slug": "brian-aldiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss" }, "book": { "title": "Greybeard", "slug": "greybeard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 112, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss#Greybeard_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:12" }, { "id": "f8b58b36-02ec-4f76-b1b8-c5a712ff0274", "slug": "to-see-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/to-see-the", "text": "To see the gods dispelled in mid-air and dissolve like clouds is one of the great human experiences. It is not as if they had gone over the horizon to disappear for a time; nor as if they had been overcome by other gods of greater power and profounder knowledge. It is simply that they came to nothing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wallace Stevens", "slug": "wallace-stevens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens" }, "book": { "title": "Opus Posthumous", "slug": "opus-posthumous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11" }, { "id": "cf1057cb-b8fa-438d-8e58-ef49c5dd805b", "slug": "god-is-in", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/god-is-in", "text": "God is in me or else is not at all (does not exist).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wallace Stevens", "slug": "wallace-stevens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens" }, "book": { "title": "Opus Posthumous", "slug": "opus-posthumous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11" }, { "id": "6997fde5-d924-4525-8cbd-717224182bee", "slug": "after-one-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/after-one-has", "text": "After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wallace Stevens", "slug": "wallace-stevens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens" }, "book": { "title": "Opus Posthumous", "slug": "opus-posthumous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11" }, { "id": "ea528206-55db-42cb-9649-bd5c62d8a66a", "slug": "the-definition-of-bad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/the-definition-of-bad", "text": "The definition of bad karma is anything our friends the gods don't like.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 57, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#TWO", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "e503339f-9694-4932-902a-5f995cf33b25", "slug": "i-just-wanted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/i-just-wanted", "text": "I just wanted to try another line on the audience. It is difficult to stir rebellion among those to whom all things are good. There is no room for evil in their minds, despite the fact that they suffer it constantly. The slave upon the rack who knows that he will be born again — perhaps as a fat merchant — if he suffers willingly — his outlook is not the same as that of a man with but one life to live. He can bear anything, knowing that great as his present pain may be, his future pleasure will rise higher. If such a one does not choose to believe in good or evil, perhaps then beauty and ugliness can be made to serve him as well. Only the names have been changed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#ONE", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "9417cfdd-453d-4f17-adf7-7280fe142e11", "slug": "the-local-brahmins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/the-local-brahmins", "text": "The local Brahmins did not approve of the antiritualistic teachings of the Buddha, but his presence filled their coffers to overflowing; so they learned to live in his squat shadow, never voicing the word tirthika—heretic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#THREE", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "5cedfa0a-0ddf-4f50-a349-8d08e7f5ca7a", "slug": "good-luck-no-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/good-luck-no-gods", "text": "Good luck. No gods be with you!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#TWO", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "4a259743-d404-40b2-a7ad-6baeb10579df", "slug": "the-old-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/the-old-religion", "text": "The old religion is not only the religion - it is the revealed, enforced and frighteningly demonstrable religion. But don't think that last part too loudly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 55, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#TWO", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "ba8822f2-e48a-4fef-ae28-c9f7b8f3f0ec", "slug": "we-do-ourselves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-marble-faun/we-do-ourselves", "text": "We do ourselves wrong, and too meanly estimate the Holiness above us, when we deem that any act or enjoyment, good in itself, is not good to do religiously.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "slug": "nathaniel-hawthorne", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne" }, "book": { "title": "The Marble Faun", "slug": "the-marble-faun", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-marble-faun" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "joy", "slug": "joy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/joy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne#The_Marble_Faun_(1860)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:08" }, { "id": "3f198dea-bbeb-438c-838f-390801578b3c", "slug": "christian-faith-is-a-grand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-marble-faun/christian-faith-is-a-grand", "text": "Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "slug": "nathaniel-hawthorne", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne" }, "book": { "title": "The Marble Faun", "slug": "the-marble-faun", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-marble-faun" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne#The_Marble_Faun_(1860)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:08" }, { "id": "b11eca51-e39a-403f-996c-473726eab290", "slug": "usual-messages-from", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joe-orton/the-orton-diaries/usual-messages-from", "text": "Usual messages from the heads of the establishment. The Queen from Windsor, the Pope from Rome: Pilate and Caiaphas celebrating the birth of Christ.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joe Orton", "slug": "joe-orton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joe-orton" }, "book": { "title": "The Orton Diaries", "slug": "the-orton-diaries", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joe-orton/the-orton-diaries" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Orton#The_Orton_Diaries_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:05" }, { "id": "dfc4d7b1-ffaa-4e5a-84e5-05d00eb01a94", "slug": "look-said-jason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/a-choice-of-gods/look-said-jason", "text": "—Look, said Jason, it is an old idea. There was never any proof. There was only faith. I have a soul, one would tell himself. He believed it because he had been told by others. Told authoritatively. Without any question. He was told so often and he told himself so often that there was no question in his mind that he had a soul. But there was never any evidence. There was never any proof.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "A Choice of Gods", "slug": "a-choice-of-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/a-choice-of-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#A_Choice_of_Gods_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:01" }, { "id": "754da9c5-6772-421f-a260-10e94a9d5845", "slug": "one-thing-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/why-call-them-back-from-heaven/one-thing-more", "text": "\"One thing more, son. Do you believe in God?\"\n\nSlowly Frost put the spoon back into the bowl.\n\nHe asked: \"You really want an answer?\"\n\n\"I want an answer,\" said the man. \"I want an honest one.\"\n\n\"The answer,\" said Frost, \"is that I don't know. Not, certainly, in the kind of God that you are thinking of. Not the old white-whiskered, woodcut gentleman. But a supreme being — yes, I would believe in a God of that sort. Because it seems to me there must be some sort of force or power or will throughout the universe. The universe is too orderly for it to be otherwise. When you measure all this orderliness, from the mechanism of the atom at one end of the scale, out to the precision of the operation of the universe at the other end, it seems unbelievable that there is not a supervisory force of some kind, a benevolent ruling force to maintain that sort of order.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "Why Call Them Back from Heaven?", "slug": "why-call-them-back-from-heaven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/why-call-them-back-from-heaven" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#Why_Call_Them_Back_From_Heaven%3F_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:01" }, { "id": "469ed338-cbd7-4a5f-896b-a387d1f68073", "slug": "to-cover-up-actual", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/city/to-cover-up-actual", "text": "To cover up actual lack of knowledge, the tale develops an explanation which amounts to divine intervention. It is an easy and, to the primitive mind, a plausible and satisfactory way to explain something of which nothing at all is known.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "City", "slug": "city", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/city" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 69, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#City_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:59" }, { "id": "9efcd600-1122-4120-8790-1901bb45898e", "slug": "you-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again/you-do-not", "text": "“You do not belong to any bona fide religion that prohibits killing?”\n\n“I presume I could classify myself as a Christian,” said Sutton. “I believe there is a Commandment about killing.”\n\nThe robot shook his head. “It doesn’t count.”\n\n“It is clear and specific,” Sutton argued. “It says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”\n\n“It is all of that,” the robot told him. “But it has been discredited. You humans discredited it yourselves. You never obeyed it. You either obey a law or you forfeit it. You can’t forget it with one breath and invoke it with the next.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "Time and Again", "slug": "time-and-again", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 27, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#Time_and_Again_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:58" }, { "id": "af9f3acf-cf4e-4a35-ad39-39cb7ffd6c2b", "slug": "i-wonder-if-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/brideshead-revisited/i-wonder-if-you", "text": "'...I wonder if you remember the story mummy read us the evening Sebastian first got drunk - I mean the bad evening. \"Father Brown\" said something like \"I caught him\" (the thief) \"with an unseen hook and and invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread.\"'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Brideshead Revisited", "slug": "brideshead-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/brideshead-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Brideshead_Revisited_(1945)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:56" }, { "id": "80f1ef30-48aa-42c3-8fed-595e61e7c966", "slug": "o-god-if-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/brideshead-revisited/o-god-if-there", "text": "O God, if there is a God, forgive him his sins, if there is such a thing as sin.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Brideshead Revisited", "slug": "brideshead-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/brideshead-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Brideshead_Revisited_(1945)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:56" }, { "id": "f17fbdf3-c927-4775-85f4-2277dd9aa8a3", "slug": "i-couldnt-understand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/decline-and-fall/i-couldnt-understand", "text": "'I couldn't understand why God had made the world at all...' I asked my bishop; he didn't know. He said that he didn't think the point arose as far as my practical duties as a parish priest were concerned..' ( Mr Prendergast, Part One , Chapter IV)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Decline and Fall", "slug": "decline-and-fall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/decline-and-fall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Decline_and_Fall_(1928)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:53" }, { "id": "d877cc5c-981e-41c6-ac71-e1d7aa898e31", "slug": "there-is-a-species", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/decline-and-fall/there-is-a-species", "text": "There is a species of person called a 'Modern Churchman' who draws the full salary of a beneficed clergyman and need not commit himself to any religious belief", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Decline and Fall", "slug": "decline-and-fall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/decline-and-fall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Decline_and_Fall_(1928)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:53" }, { "id": "09df4531-c5f9-42aa-b2ab-1e44ab9e5df0", "slug": "you-and-yours", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-eggers/the-circle/you-and-yours", "text": "\"You and yours at the Circle, you're gonna save all the souls. You're gonna get everyone in one place, you're gonna teach them all the same things. There can only be one morality, one set of rules. Imagine! Now all humans will have the eyes of God. You know this passage? 'All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of God.' Something like that. You know your Bible? Now we're all God. Every one of us will soon be able to see, and cast judgment upon, every other. We'll see what He sees. We'll articulate His judgment. We'll channel His wrath and deliver His forgiveness. On a constant and global level. All religion has been waiting for this, when every human is a direct and immediate messenger of God's will. Do you see what I'm saying?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dave Eggers", "slug": "dave-eggers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-eggers" }, "book": { "title": "The Circle", "slug": "the-circle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-eggers/the-circle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 398, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "privacy", "slug": "privacy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/privacy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dave_Eggers#The_Circle_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:53" }, { "id": "656c48e1-5128-42bd-a82e-0ca90d0c8d10", "slug": "id-like-to-clarify", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/id-like-to-clarify", "text": "I'd like to clarify my comments about religious people being weak-minded. I didn't mean all religious people. I don't have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That's why the founding fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves.\n\nBut I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn't accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That's what I find weak and destructive.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "4fe9b067-7009-4451-ac4c-eba9c680a9c0", "slug": "did-god-truly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-city-in-the-autumn-stars/did-god-truly", "text": "Did God truly build and populate a small planet for His own purposes; perhaps merely to relieve His boredom?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The City in the Autumn Stars", "slug": "the-city-in-the-autumn-stars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-city-in-the-autumn-stars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 294, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_City_in_the_Autumn_Stars_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:45" }, { "id": "e72a52c2-2474-46bb-ad29-033156dbd821", "slug": "here-the-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar/here-the-idea", "text": "Here the idea of God has been replaced by the idea of the Future. The two notions are, admittedly, all but identical in the way in which they are self-contradictory and thus always fundamentally confusing to their worshippers, who must look to priests for translation, and so inevitably the priests (or whatever they call them) gradually take power...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Steel Tsar", "slug": "the-steel-tsar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 413, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the future", "slug": "the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Steel_Tsar_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:44" }, { "id": "ce71f394-adea-46b6-bb8b-ad3311042ce1", "slug": "we-are-still", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar/we-are-still", "text": "“We are still ruled, in some ways, by our Church. We are a people more cursed by religion and its manifestations and assumptions than any other. The Steel Tsar, with his messianic socialism, offers us religion again, perhaps. You English have never had quite the same need for God. We have known despair and conquest too often to ignore Him altogether.” He shrugged. “Old habits, Mr Bastable. Religion is the panacea for defeat. We have a great tendency to rationalize our despair in mystical and utopian terms.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Steel Tsar", "slug": "the-steel-tsar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 361, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "despair", "slug": "despair", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/despair" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Steel_Tsar_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:44" }, { "id": "b5e5d20b-f389-4a05-892c-38d4b816beeb", "slug": "it-has-often", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords/it-has-often", "text": "“It has often been noted that gods could not exist without mortals and mortals could not exist without gods.”\n\n“Yet gods, it appears,” said Corum, “can affect our destinies.”\n\n“And we can affect theirs, can we not?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Queen of the Swords", "slug": "the-queen-of-the-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 164, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Queen_of_the_Swords_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:40" }, { "id": "4c9a9a4b-21d6-4865-9ccd-863bffe69565", "slug": "this-is-an-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-knight-of-the-swords/this-is-an-age", "text": "This is an Age of Gods, I am afraid, Master Corum. There are many, big and small, and they crowd the universe. Once it was not so. Sometimes, I suspect, the universe manages with none at all!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Knight of the Swords", "slug": "the-knight-of-the-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-knight-of-the-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 103, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Knight_of_the_Swords_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:39" }, { "id": "6708eb49-5a43-4e63-b5b1-202fe22d7ef1", "slug": "the-schizophrenic-condition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-english-assassin/the-schizophrenic-condition", "text": "“The schizophrenic condition finds its most glorious expression in Hinduism,” remarked Professor Hira. “Whereas Christianity is an expression of the much less interesting paranoid frame of reference. Paranoia is rarely heroic, in the mythical sense, at least.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The English Assassin", "slug": "the-english-assassin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-english-assassin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 538, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_English_Assassin_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:37" }, { "id": "d40f9c0e-1cb4-46ec-b5d9-32864e599939", "slug": "i-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-magus/i-do-not", "text": "I do not defend Conchis’ decision at the execution, but I defend the reality of the dilemma. God and freedom are totally anti-pathetic concepts; and men believe in their imaginary gods most often because they are afraid to believe in the other thing. I am old enough to realise now that they do sometimes with good reason. True freedom lies between each two, never in one alone, and therefore is never absolute freedom.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Fowles", "slug": "john-fowles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles" }, "book": { "title": "The Magus", "slug": "the-magus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-magus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles#The_Magus_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:30" }, { "id": "5e34fbf3-ebdd-4e63-8cc5-7980f56e4dcd", "slug": "there-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-french-lieutenants-woman/there-is-only", "text": "There is only one good definition of God: the freedom that allows other freedoms to exist.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Fowles", "slug": "john-fowles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles" }, "book": { "title": "The French Lieutenant's Woman", "slug": "the-french-lieutenants-woman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-french-lieutenants-woman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 99, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles#The_French_Lieutenant's_Woman_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:30" }, { "id": "2281300b-4780-45e5-b200-d219d99dc2da", "slug": "if-a-person", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-magus/if-a-person", "text": "If a person is intelligent, then of course he is either an agnostic or an atheist. Just as he is a physical coward. They are automatic definitions of high intelligence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Fowles", "slug": "john-fowles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles" }, "book": { "title": "The Magus", "slug": "the-magus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-magus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles#The_Magus_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:30" }, { "id": "e6a9243a-2a48-43f8-a1a0-8c0147643acc", "slug": "unbelievers-may-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed/unbelievers-may-think", "text": "Unbelievers may think - all right, we do think - Christianity is only slightly less nutty than Islam; but Christianity is ours. We've got along with it for several centuries; and the relationship between Western unbelievers and Western Christians, if not always polite, is stable and comfortable. Can we fit Islam in like that?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Derbyshire", "slug": "john-derbyshire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire" }, "book": { "title": "We Are Doomed", "slug": "we-are-doomed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Derbyshire#We_Are_Doomed:_Reclaiming_Conservative_Pessimism_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:28" }, { "id": "4a49d7a3-5cfd-41f5-9daa-9912773aef78", "slug": "all-religions-look", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed/all-religions-look", "text": "All religions look wacky to an unbeliever, even to one who does not, like the celebrity atheists, consider religion a menace. Islam, in its present frustrated state, is doing more harm than most, but that's historically contingent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Derbyshire", "slug": "john-derbyshire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire" }, "book": { "title": "We Are Doomed", "slug": "we-are-doomed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Derbyshire#We_Are_Doomed:_Reclaiming_Conservative_Pessimism_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:28" }, { "id": "2cfe24cf-a030-468a-bab2-0b9dda238636", "slug": "human-beings-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed/human-beings-are", "text": "Human beings are religious. We don't all have to be, any more than we all have to be musical, or athletic, or humorous; but as long as there are human beings, there will be religion to offer warmth to those who can believe its stories and its metaphysics, while those who can't will be left with a paler, colder flame.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Derbyshire", "slug": "john-derbyshire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire" }, "book": { "title": "We Are Doomed", "slug": "we-are-doomed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Derbyshire#We_Are_Doomed:_Reclaiming_Conservative_Pessimism_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:28" }, { "id": "fb8cf86a-ce06-4110-990c-3bec81ccda7f", "slug": "the-most-profound", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/sophies-choice/the-most-profound", "text": "The most profound statement yet made about Auschwitz was not a statement at all, but a response.\n\nThe query: “At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?”\n\nAnd the answer: “Where was man?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Styron", "slug": "william-styron", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron" }, "book": { "title": "Sophie's Choice", "slug": "sophies-choice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/sophies-choice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "Holocaust", "slug": "holocaust", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/holocaust" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Styron#Sophie's_Choice_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:26" }, { "id": "f70c661e-0a93-4065-81bd-36af8e6531b1", "slug": "the-sand-in-my-boots", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/the-sand-in-my-boots", "text": "The sand in my boots was sacred sand because it came from a beach of sacred sand. The cenobites treasured up the relics of the sannyasins because the sannyasins had approached the Pancreator. But everything had approached and even touched the Pancreator, because everything had dropped from his hand. Everything was a relic. All the world was a relic. I drew off my boots, that had traveled with me so far, and threw them into the waves that I might not walk shod on holy ground.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Citadel of the Autarch", "slug": "the-citadel-of-the-autarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:25" }, { "id": "1ac6ecb5-10ba-4705-b369-4a736442eb6a", "slug": "religion-and-science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/religion-and-science", "text": "Religion and science have always been matters of faith in something. It is the same something. You are yourself what you call a man of science, so I talk of science to you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Citadel of the Autarch", "slug": "the-citadel-of-the-autarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:25" }, { "id": "a01d0a82-d3df-4cfc-a608-aa7c9d6cd46e", "slug": "the-pancreator-is-infinitely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/the-pancreator-is-infinitely", "text": "\"The pancreator is infinitely far from us,\" the angel said, \"And thus infinitely far from me, though I fly so much higher than you. I guess at his desires—no one can do otherwise.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Citadel of the Autarch", "slug": "the-citadel-of-the-autarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "502a8d12-8bda-459a-84ee-3398a59249e9", "slug": "llibio-had-worn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor/llibio-had-worn", "text": "Llibio had worn a fish carved from a tooth about his neck; and when I asked him what it was he had said it was Oannes, and covered it with his hand so that I my eyes could not profane it, for he knew that I did not believe in Oannes, who must surely be the fish-god of these people. I did not, yet I felt I knew everything about Oannes that mattered. I knew that he must live in the darkest deeps of the lake, but that he was seen leaping among the waves in storms. I knew he was the shepherd of the deep, who filled nets of the islanders, and that murderers could not go on the water without fear, lest Oannes appear alongside, with his eyes as big as moons, and overturn the boat. I did not believe in Oannes or fear him. But I knew, I thought, whence he came - I knew that there is an all-pervasive power in the universe of which every other is the shadow. I knew that in the last analysis my conception of that power was as laughable (and as serious) as Oannes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword of the Lictor", "slug": "the-sword-of-the-lictor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Sword_of_the_Lictor_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "1fe39f5c-0e5c-4ae5-88a1-8c9764cb8c32", "slug": "at-sixteen-or-so-thecla", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor/at-sixteen-or-so-thecla", "text": "At sixteen or so, Thecla was attracted, as I think young women often are, to their lectures on theogony, theodicy, and the like, and I recall one particularly in which a phoebad put forward as an ultimate truth the ancient sophistry of the existence of three Adonai, that of the city (or of the people), that of the poets, and that of the philosophers. Her reasoning was that since the beginning of human consciousness (if such a beginning ever was) there have been vast numbers of persons in the three categories who have endeavored to pierce the secret of the divine. If it does not exist, they should have discovered that long before; if it does, it is not possible that Truth itself should mislead them. Yet the beliefs of the populace, the insights of the rhapsodists, and the theories of the metaphysicians have so far diverged that few of them can so much as comprehend what the others say, and someone who knew nothing of any of their ideas might well believe there was no connection at all between them.\n\nMay it not be, she asked (and even now I am not certain I can answer), that instead of traveling, as has always been supposed, down three roads to the same destination, they are actually traveling toward three quite different ones? After all, when in common life we behold three roads issuing from the same crossing, we do not assume they all proceed toward the same goal.\n\nI found (and find) this suggestion as rational as it is repellent, and it represents for me all that monomaniacal fabric of arguments, so tightly woven that not even the tiniest objection or spark of light can escape its net, in which human minds become enmeshed whenever the subject is one in which no appeal to fact is possible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword of the Lictor", "slug": "the-sword-of-the-lictor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Sword_of_the_Lictor_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "7810ab05-2f75-4f7b-b271-11100979a776", "slug": "myself-i-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-claw-of-the-conciliator/myself-i-dont", "text": "Myself, I don’t believe—or rather, I think that if the Pancreator don’t care nothing for me, I won’t care nothing for him, and why should I?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Claw Of The Conciliator", "slug": "the-claw-of-the-conciliator", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-claw-of-the-conciliator" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Claw_of_the_Conciliator_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:23" }, { "id": "67114c45-3983-4096-8c51-43a32d2bf593", "slug": "one-cant-found", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer/one-cant-found", "text": "One can't found a novel theology on Nothing, and nothing is so secure a foundation as a contradiction. Look at the great successes of the past—they say their deities are the masters of all the universes, and yet that they require grandmothers to defend them, as if they were children frightened by poultry. Or that the authority that punishes no one while there exists a chance for reformation will punish everyone when there is no possibility anyone will become the better for it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Shadow of the Torturer", "slug": "the-shadow-of-the-torturer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Shadow_of_the_Torturer_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:23" }, { "id": "38c6a60e-f6e2-4592-88de-7af5534aaf26", "slug": "like-all-these", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer/like-all-these", "text": "Like all these religious arguments, this one gets less significant as we continue. Supposing the Conciliator to have walked among us eons ago, and to be dead now, of what importance is he save to historians and fanatics? I value his legend as a part of the sacred past, but it seems to me that it is the legend that matters today, and not the Conciliator’s dust.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Shadow of the Torturer", "slug": "the-shadow-of-the-torturer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Shadow_of_the_Torturer_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:23" }, { "id": "feeef987-2813-4711-a6c2-2d9f20f4744a", "slug": "this-new-class", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-hedges/american-fascists/this-new-class", "text": "this new class seeks to reduce the American working class to the levels of this global serfdom. After all, anything that drains corporate coffers is a loss of freedom--the God-given American freedom to exploit other human beings to make money. The marriage of this gospel of prosperity with raw, global capitalism, and the flaunting of the wealth and privilege it brings, are supposedly blessed and championed by Jesus Christ. Compassion is regulated to private, individual acts of charity or left to the churches. The callousness of the ideology, the notion that it in any way reflects the message of the gospels, which were preoccupied with the poor and the outcasts, illustrates how the new class has twisted Christian scripture to serve America's god of capitalism and discredited the Enlightenment values we once prized. (p133)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chris Hedges", "slug": "chris-hedges", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-hedges" }, "book": { "title": "American Fascists", "slug": "american-fascists", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-hedges/american-fascists" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges#American_Fascists:_The_Christian_Right_and_the_War_on_America_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:22" }, { "id": "1b03370d-3aeb-4e00-98a6-b4f0f7d124cd", "slug": "you-understand-pryn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/flight-from-neveryon/you-understand-pryn", "text": "You understand, Pryn, I don’t believe in any of it: magic, miracles, religion, the calling of the gods, named or unnamed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "Flight from Neveryon", "slug": "flight-from-neveryon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/flight-from-neveryon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 248, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#Flight_from_Nev%C3%A8r%C3%BFon_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:20" }, { "id": "982eea11-69d8-4c6d-b4bf-482a9b03a416", "slug": "by-and-large", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fred-hoyle/the-black-cloud/by-and-large", "text": "“By and large, conventional religion, as many humans accept it, is illogical in its attempt to conceive of entities lying outside the Universe. Since the Universe comprises everything, it is evident that nothing can lie outside it. The idea of a ‘god’ creating the Universe is a mechanistic absurdity clearly derived from the making of machines by men. I take it that we are in agreement about all this.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fred Hoyle", "slug": "fred-hoyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fred-hoyle" }, "book": { "title": "The Black Cloud", "slug": "the-black-cloud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fred-hoyle/the-black-cloud" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 177, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fred_Hoyle#The_Black_Cloud_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:09" }, { "id": "9d15ff86-f648-4fa8-a153-9276a88d71ae", "slug": "aid-from-heaven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-prime-minister/aid-from-heaven", "text": "\"Aid from heaven you may have,\" he said, \"by saying your prayers; and I don't doubt you ask for this and all other things generally. But an angel won't come to tell you who ought to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony Trollope", "slug": "anthony-trollope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope" }, "book": { "title": "The Prime Minister", "slug": "the-prime-minister", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-prime-minister" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope#The_Prime_Minister_(1876)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:01" }, { "id": "4bf212fb-970c-4491-acc0-11c764212eae", "slug": "there-is-perhaps", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/barchester-towers/there-is-perhaps", "text": "There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries, than the necessity of listening to sermons.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony Trollope", "slug": "anthony-trollope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope" }, "book": { "title": "Barchester Towers", "slug": "barchester-towers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/barchester-towers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope#Barchester_Towers_(1857)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:59" }, { "id": "8d7c2b6a-c48a-47c1-83f7-cb6cfdd2907d", "slug": "but-for-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/but-for-the", "text": "But for the present I would lie there and know I didn't have to get up, and feel the holy emptiness and blessed fatigue of a saint after the dark night of the soul. For God and Nothing have a lot in common. You look either one of Them straight in the eye for a second and the immediate effect on the human constitution is the same.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "01ed456a-1b5c-4c9b-a28a-832b1ee1f3f1", "slug": "life-is-motion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/life-is-motion", "text": "\"Life is Motion toward Knowledge. If God is Complete Knowledge then He is Complete Non-Motion, which is Non-Life, which is Death. Therefore, if there is such a God of Fullness of Being, we would worship Death, the Father.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "f5005ff0-73a1-400d-8e85-d25f268c1f03", "slug": "you-still-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-group/you-still-believe", "text": "'You still believe in progress,' she said kindly. 'I'd forgotten there were people who did. It's your substitute for religion. Your tribal totem is the yardstick. But we've transcended all that. No first-rate mind can accept the concept of progress any more.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary McCarthy", "slug": "mary-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "The Group", "slug": "the-group", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-group" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "ideas", "slug": "ideas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_McCarthy#The_Group_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:57" }, { "id": "cadf6092-f7db-4efb-8676-ba5f17677ac9", "slug": "i-still-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-company-she-keeps/i-still-know", "text": "I still know when I lie, I can recognize a frame-up when I make one. But Frederick is his own stooge, his own innocent front. He has a vested interest in himself. He is the perfect Protestant pragmatist. 'If I say this, it is true,' 'If I do this, it is justified.' There is no possibility of dispute because Frederick has grace, Frederick belongs to the Elect. It's the religion of the Pharisee, the religion of the businessman.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary McCarthy", "slug": "mary-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "The Company She Keeps", "slug": "the-company-she-keeps", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-company-she-keeps" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 186, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_McCarthy#The_Company_She_Keeps_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:57" }, { "id": "b5f63821-5a9f-4653-bc8f-48338b1eaf16", "slug": "faith-quinn-mused", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton/the-naked-god/faith-quinn-mused", "text": "Faith, Quinn mused, was a strange power. They had committed their lives to the sect, never questioning its gospels. Yet in all of that time, they had the reassurance of routine… The bedrock of every religion, that your God is a promise, never to be encountered in this life, this universe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter F. Hamilton", "slug": "peter-f-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Naked God", "slug": "the-naked-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton/the-naked-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_F._Hamilton#The_Naked_God_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:55" }, { "id": "b342ded8-8763-43d8-8ca2-26ef45211915", "slug": "i-know-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/i-know-you", "text": "I know you are contentment, optimism, what do they call the thing, an ultimate reconciliation. Well, I am not reconciled. If you were the man in the dark room, why were you also Sunday, an offense to the sunlight? If you were from the first our father and our friend, why were you also our greatest enemy? We wept, we fled in terror; the iron entered into our souls — and you are the peace of God! Oh, I can forgive God His anger, though it destroyed nations; but I cannot forgive Him His peace.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "The Man Who Was Thursday", "slug": "the-man-who-was-thursday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._XV_:_The_Accuser", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54" }, { "id": "203a8e1d-756c-43cc-b446-be5b5efc721d", "slug": "when-duty-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/when-duty-and", "text": "When duty and religion are really destroyed, it will be by the rich.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "The Man Who Was Thursday", "slug": "the-man-who-was-thursday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._XII_:_The_Earth_in_Anarchy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54" }, { "id": "f0372e75-073c-4398-a8c2-0270babd95b2", "slug": "cicero-in-invoking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-bowen/a-time-in-rome/cicero-in-invoking", "text": "Cicero, in invoking the law of heaven, invoked what was by nature of heaven: law — inviolable principle, better than the vacillating gods.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elizabeth Bowen", "slug": "elizabeth-bowen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-bowen" }, "book": { "title": "A Time in Rome", "slug": "a-time-in-rome", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-bowen/a-time-in-rome" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 80, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowen#A_Time_in_Rome_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:52" }, { "id": "b93d6b76-fc38-488f-b6c4-4b99ad161b8d", "slug": "maybe-god-isnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton/the-harlequin/maybe-god-isnt", "text": "Maybe God isn't the sex police, Richard. Sometimes I think Christians get all hung up on the sex thing because it's easier to worry about sex than to ask yourself, am I a good person? If as long as you don't have sex with a lot of people, that's easy. […] It makes it easy to be cruel, because as long as you're not fucking around, nothing you do can be that bad. Is that really all you think of God?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Laurell K. Hamilton", "slug": "laurell-k-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Harlequin", "slug": "the-harlequin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton/the-harlequin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 391, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laurell_K._Hamilton#The_Harlequin_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:47" }, { "id": "dce268dc-56e4-40df-b43e-116e98e0f559", "slug": "if-only-we-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind/if-only-we-were", "text": "If only we were wiser or better people perhaps the gods would explain the mad, unbearable things they do.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Children Of The Mind", "slug": "children-of-the-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Mind#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:45" }, { "id": "edbc5bbd-15d9-45e1-9832-25b1887dfcd1", "slug": "a-real-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide/a-real-god", "text": "A real god doesn’t care about control. A real god already has control of everything that needs controlling. Real gods would want to teach you how to be just like them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Xenocide", "slug": "xenocide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Xenocide#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:44" }, { "id": "d9592513-d33e-470d-885a-02376a8359c7", "slug": "religion-is-tied", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind/religion-is-tied", "text": "Religion is tied to the deepest feelings people have. The love that arises from that stewing pot is the sweetest and strongest, but the hate is the hottest, and the anger is the most violent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Children Of The Mind", "slug": "children-of-the-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Mind#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:44" }, { "id": "baa6c866-d041-4c5d-a86b-2f2150eceed7", "slug": "if-you-really", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/if-you-really", "text": "If you really believed that someone was perfect in heart... So righteous that to live another day could only cause them to be less perfect, then wouldn't it be a good thing for them if they were killed and taken directly into heaven?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Speaker for the Dead", "slug": "speaker-for-the-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:43" }, { "id": "2b06a950-9fba-40f6-a839-1f9e1e2b416e", "slug": "only-one-rabbi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/only-one-rabbi", "text": "Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Speaker for the Dead", "slug": "speaker-for-the-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:43" }, { "id": "648e08be-be91-4a1f-a453-6175b806be51", "slug": "i-talk-to-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath/the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath/i-talk-to-god", "text": "I talk to God but the sky is empty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sylvia Plath", "slug": "sylvia-plath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath" }, "book": { "title": "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath", "slug": "the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath/the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath#The_Unabridged_Journals_of_Sylvia_Plath_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:42" }, { "id": "705477bd-f460-49dd-9c58-b3383dddaa85", "slug": "martin-luther-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-vowell/the-wordy-shipmates/martin-luther-king", "text": "[Martin Luther King, Jr.] concluded the learned discourse that came to be known as the 'loving your enemies' sermon this way: \"So this morning, as I look into your eyes and into the eyes of all my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you,'I love you. I would rather die than hate you.'\" Go ahead and reread that. That is hands down the most beautiful, strange, impossible, but most of all radical thing a human being can say. And it comes from reading the most beautiful, strange, impossible, but most of all radical civics lesson ever taught, when Jesus of Nazareth went to a hill in Galilee and told his disciples, \"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sarah Vowell", "slug": "sarah-vowell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-vowell" }, "book": { "title": "The Wordy Shipmates", "slug": "the-wordy-shipmates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-vowell/the-wordy-shipmates" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Vowell#The_Wordy_Shipmates_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:35" }, { "id": "c095825f-bd4e-440e-87c5-4a0f75d6efe0", "slug": "i-came-fortunately", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-carnegie/the-autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie/i-came-fortunately", "text": "... I came fortunately upon Darwin’s and Spencer’s works “The Data of Ethics,” “First Principles,” “Social Statics,” “The Descent of Man.” Reaching the pages which explain how man has absorbed such mental foods as were favorable to him, retaining what was salutary, rejecting what was deleterious, I remember that light came as in a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution. \"All is well since all grows better” became my motto, my true source of comfort. Man was not created with an instinct for his own degradation, but from the lower he had risen to the higher forms. Nor is there any conceivable end to his march to perfection. His face is turned to the light; he stands in the sun and looks upward.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Andrew Carnegie", "slug": "andrew-carnegie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-carnegie" }, "book": { "title": "The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie", "slug": "the-autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-carnegie/the-autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 339, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie#Autobiography_of_Andrew_Carnegie,_1920", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:32" }, { "id": "4777d1ac-5e85-465c-ab31-f58bca4f7d2a", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey/desert-solitaire/i-am-not", "text": "I am not an atheist but an earthiest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Abbey", "slug": "edward-abbey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey" }, "book": { "title": "Desert Solitaire", "slug": "desert-solitaire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey/desert-solitaire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 163, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey#Desert_Solitaire_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:31" }, { "id": "b6072211-4877-4553-b637-a77aa4d484fa", "slug": "she-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling/she-was-not", "text": "She was not so naive as to think there was any necessary relation between religion and morality, or that if there was a relation it was likely to be a benevolent one.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Telling", "slug": "the-telling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 109, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Telling_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:54" }, { "id": "72ae716e-a935-4540-93de-eaa276f709b4", "slug": "by-such-literalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling/by-such-literalism", "text": "By such literalism, fundamentalism, religions betrayed the best intentions of their founders. Reducing thought to formula, replacing choice by obedience, these preachers turned the living word into dead law.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Telling", "slug": "the-telling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 123, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Telling_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:54" }, { "id": "d1e93ab4-a8b9-489b-a8fe-63c35a2479ae", "slug": "the-same-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/survivor/the-same-way", "text": "The same way every generation reinvents Christ, the agent's giving me the same makeover. The agent says nobody is going to worship anybody with my roll of flab around his middle. These days, people aren't going to fill stadiums to get preached at by somebody who isn't beautiful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Survivor", "slug": "survivor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/survivor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Survivor_(Palahniuk_novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:19" }, { "id": "d35ab384-45a4-486e-b3b9-07e53285fc2a", "slug": "it-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry/it-was-not", "text": "It was not her eloquence but her healing of the sick which raised Sharon to such eminence that she promised to become the most renowned evangelist in America. People were tired of eloquence; and the whole evangelist business was limited, since even the most ardent were not likely to be saved more than three of four times. But they could be healed constantly, and of the same disease.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Elmer Gantry", "slug": "elmer-gantry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Elmer_Gantry_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:02" }, { "id": "9a29dc26-434b-4724-a7fc-bb78a710d536", "slug": "he-was-still", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry/he-was-still", "text": "He was still not at all certain that he was doing any good, aside from providing the drug of religious hope to timorous folk frightened of hell-fire and afraid to walk alone.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Elmer Gantry", "slug": "elmer-gantry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Elmer_Gantry_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:02" }, { "id": "5ed00b81-b9a5-476a-9b2f-31420d78b1c5", "slug": "even-if-some", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry/even-if-some", "text": "\"Even if some details of dogma aren't true—or even all of 'em—think what a consolation religion and the church are to weak humanity!\"\n\n\"Are they? I wonder! Don't cheerful agnostics, who know they are going to die dead, worry much less than good Baptists, who worry lest their sons and cousins and sweethearts fail to get into the Baptist heaven—or what is even worse, who wonder if they may not have guessed wrong—if God may not be a Catholic, maybe, or a Mormon or Seventh-day Adventist instead of a Baptist, and then they'll go to hell themselves. Consolation? No!\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Elmer Gantry", "slug": "elmer-gantry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Elmer_Gantry_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:02" }, { "id": "571c8530-9450-4a20-b74e-44966acfcdf7", "slug": "he-had-in-fact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry/he-had-in-fact", "text": "He had, in fact, got everything from the church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Elmer Gantry", "slug": "elmer-gantry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/elmer-gantry" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Elmer_Gantry_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:02" }, { "id": "e7a5d3ea-9d66-4e85-806c-819107e40fa3", "slug": "the-content-of-his", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt/the-content-of-his", "text": "The content of his theology was that there was a supreme being who had tried to make us perfect, but presumably had failed; that if one was a Good Man he would go to a place called Heaven.... Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good — kept him in touch with higher things.' ~ Ch. 16", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Babbitt", "slug": "babbitt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Babbitt_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:00" }, { "id": "3d12c955-e57a-4429-8f66-7dc3347b3d41", "slug": "rev-mr-monday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt/rev-mr-monday", "text": "Rev. Mr. Monday, the Prophet of Punch, has shown that he is the world's greatest salesman of salvation, and that by efficient organization the overhead of spiritual regeneration may be kept down to an unprecedented rock-bottom basis. He has converted over two hundred thousand lost and priceless souls at an average cost of less than ten dollars a head. ~ Ch. 7", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Babbitt", "slug": "babbitt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Babbitt_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:00" }, { "id": "1bc3fe2f-6010-4233-8732-3aa252f4e0ed", "slug": "total-experiences-of-which", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-sontag/styles-of-radical-will/total-experiences-of-which", "text": "Total experiences, of which there are many kinds, tend again and again to be apprehended only as revivals or translations of the religious imagination. To try to make a fresh way of talking at the most serious, ardent, and enthusiastic level, heading off the religious encapsulation, is one of the primary intellectual tasks of future thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Sontag", "slug": "susan-sontag", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-sontag" }, "book": { "title": "Styles of Radical Will", "slug": "styles-of-radical-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-sontag/styles-of-radical-will" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 69, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag#Styles_of_Radical_Will_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:55" }, { "id": "74c58eb3-8e09-4877-958f-19822a98a7bb", "slug": "it-is-a-curious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man/it-is-a-curious", "text": "It is a curious thing, do you know, Cranly said dispassionately, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", "slug": "a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:54" }, { "id": "68c44b63-6dbf-4ced-a3d9-1a6f8783b83f", "slug": "priest-are-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/the-trial-of-god/priest-are-you", "text": "PRIEST: Are you taking their side, daughter? You’ll burn in hell.\n\nMARIA: Better in hell with them than in paradise with you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elie Wiesel", "slug": "elie-wiesel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel" }, "book": { "title": "The Trial of God", "slug": "the-trial-of-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/the-trial-of-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel#The_Trial_of_God_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:20" }, { "id": "6aaba861-a28e-4bf2-9fa3-964890dcedae", "slug": "when-our-food", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/when-our-food", "text": "When our food and clothing and housing all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is bound to get into our thinking and to eliminate all other thinking. In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "East of Eden", "slug": "east-of-eden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 130, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)#Part_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:59" }, { "id": "5c59c2e3-82e1-4a85-a4bd-e23f19e0d279", "slug": "some-of-my-readers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher/some-of-my-readers", "text": "Some of my readers may find themselves thinking that the mere fact that millions of human beings, including many highly intelligent and deeply thoughtful ones, have had strongly held religious beliefs is itself a reason for giving them serious intellectual attention — not necessarily for believing them, of course, but for finding them interesting and for treating them with respect. I would agree with this if the reasons given for them commanded respect. But I have yet to encounter such reasons. What are claimed as proofs are not proofs, and all such \"proofs\" have long since been discredited, the most important of them by Christians themselves, such as Kant. Yet they go on being trotted out: assertions are made without evidence; mutually contradictory claims proliferate; historical knowledge is defied; mistranslations abound; language is used in a way that slithers unacknowledged between literal meaning and metaphor; the whole vocabulary rests on unsecured presuppositions. Superstitions and belief in magic are perennial in just the same way as religion, and something near to being universal among mankind; and why this is so may be interesting, but in most cases the beliefs themselves are devoid of interesting content, at least to me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bryan Magee", "slug": "bryan-magee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions of a Philosopher", "slug": "confessions-of-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 346, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee#Confessions_of_a_Philosopher_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "5b2e72fd-09b8-4807-be27-095ae990f252", "slug": "much-was-made", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe/much-was-made", "text": "Much was made by abolitionists that the King James version of the Bible didn't use the word slaves, but, instead, servants. This meant, in their minds, that God didn't really approve of slavery. But that argument was linguistic at best. Slavery was codified and even sanctified in the tenth commandment, throwing slaves (and wives) in with other property belonging to one's neighbor that one must not covet. The Bible even regulated--as opposed to banning outright--the killing of slaves, stating that if a slave were beaten to death, the slave owner should be punished (though not killed himself, as would be his fate were he to kill a freeman), but if the slave didn't die until a day or two after the beating, the slave owner \"shall not be punished, for he [the slave] is his money.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Derrick Jensen", "slug": "derrick-jensen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen" }, "book": { "title": "The Culture of Make Believe", "slug": "the-culture-of-make-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 56, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Derrick_Jensen#The_Culture_of_Make_Believe_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "41544770-8476-403c-9bab-23d64a51c8a0", "slug": "the-problem-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/how-the-mind-works/the-problem-with", "text": "The problem with the religious solution [to philosophical problems] was stated by Mencken when he wrote, 'Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.' For anyone with a persistent intellectual curiosity, religious explanations are not worth knowing because they pile equally baffling enigmas on top of the original ones. What gave God a mind, free will, knowledge, certainty about right and wrong? How does he infuse them into a universe that seems to run just fine according to physical laws? How does he get ghostly souls to interact with hard matter? And most perplexing of all, if the world unfolds according to a wise and merciful plan, why does it contain so much suffering? As the Yiddish expression says, If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steven Pinker", "slug": "steven-pinker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker" }, "book": { "title": "How the Mind Works", "slug": "how-the-mind-works", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/how-the-mind-works" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 560, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "curiosity", "slug": "curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/curiosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker#How_the_Mind_Works_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:49" }, { "id": "ec29ff68-cc57-4f1d-8add-6a2067312d56", "slug": "catholicism-made-me-a-humanist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/catholicism-made-me-a-humanist", "text": "Catholicism made me a humanist before I knew the word. When people rail against “secular humanism,” I want to ask them if humanism itself would be okay with them if it wasn’t so secular. Then I want to ask, “Why do you think it is secular?” This would lead to my opinion that their beliefs were not humanist.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Ebert", "slug": "roger-ebert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert" }, "book": { "title": "Life Itself", "slug": "life-itself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert#Life_Itself_:_A_Memoir_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "b95810b4-7218-4c3e-a409-278e4ddbf55a", "slug": "for-many-years", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/for-many-years", "text": "For many years I visualized the Soviet Union as a land where the sun never came out and enslaved Catholic peasants labored under lowering skies for their godless rulers.\n\nBut our theology was often very practical: All men are created equal. Do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Follow the Ten Commandments, which we studied at length, except for adultery, “which you children don’t have to worry about.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Ebert", "slug": "roger-ebert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert" }, "book": { "title": "Life Itself", "slug": "life-itself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert#Life_Itself_:_A_Memoir_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "a8aca98a-1a1c-4bb0-8629-40cd04bc0e89", "slug": "raised-as-a-roman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/raised-as-a-roman", "text": "Raised as a Roman Catholic, I internalized the social values of that faith and still hold most of them, even though its theology no longer persuades me. I have no quarrel with what anyone else subscribes to; everyone deals with these things in his own way, and I have no truths to impart. All I require of a religion is that it be tolerant of those who do not agree with it. I know a priest whose eyes twinkle when he says, “You go about God’s work in your way, and I’ll go about it in His.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Ebert", "slug": "roger-ebert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert" }, "book": { "title": "Life Itself", "slug": "life-itself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert#Life_Itself_:_A_Memoir_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "60e6f5d3-9631-4961-b12e-48480e390fa3", "slug": "i-have-no-patience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/i-have-no-patience", "text": "I have no patience for churches that evangelize aggressively. I have no interest in being instructed in what I must do to be saved. I prefer vertical prayer, directed up toward heaven, rather than horizontal prayer, directed sideways toward me. I believe a worthy church must grow through attraction, not promotion. I am wary of zealotry; even as a child I was suspicious of those who, as I often heard, were “more Catholic than the pope.” If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must regard their beliefs with the same respect our own deserve.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Ebert", "slug": "roger-ebert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert" }, "book": { "title": "Life Itself", "slug": "life-itself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert#Life_Itself_:_A_Memoir_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "074654f5-ecef-446d-bad2-a804ee8efba0", "slug": "let-me-rule", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/let-me-rule", "text": "Let me rule out at once any God who has personally spoken to anyone or issued instructions to men. That some men believe they have been spoken to by God, I am certain. That’s for them to believe. I don’t believe Moses came down from the mountain with any tablets he did not go up with. I believe mankind in general has a need to believe in higher powers and an existence not limited to the physical duration of the body. But these needs are hopes, and believing them doesn’t make them true. I believe mankind feels a need to gather in churches, whether physical or social. I’ve spent hours and hours in churches all over the world. I sit in them not to pray, but to gently nudge my thoughts toward wonder and awe. I am aware of the generations there before me and the reassurance of tradition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Ebert", "slug": "roger-ebert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert" }, "book": { "title": "Life Itself", "slug": "life-itself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert#Life_Itself_:_A_Memoir_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "7c1e86ed-488a-4f43-845a-3acf3bfe2f68", "slug": "whenever-scientists-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/red-mars/whenever-scientists-say", "text": "“Whenever scientists say they’re Christian,” Sax said, “I take it to be an aesthetic statement.”\n\n“The church of the wouldn’t-it-be-pretty-to-think-so,” Frank said.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Red Mars", "slug": "red-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/red-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 53, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Red_Mars_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:43" }, { "id": "cf9e5a15-b93c-4d49-b129-b98a8f2923c6", "slug": "contrast-is-everything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-book-of-skulls/contrast-is-everything", "text": "Contrast is everything, Ned said. Incongruity is essential. The secret of art lies in attaining a sense of proper juxtapositions, and what is religion if not a category of art?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Silverberg", "slug": "robert-silverberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg" }, "book": { "title": "The Book Of Skulls", "slug": "the-book-of-skulls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-book-of-skulls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 70, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Silverberg#The_Book_of_Skulls_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:41" }, { "id": "0ef40eae-3fe3-438f-b7d8-e3e93f5135a4", "slug": "now-nuns-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/now-nuns-have", "text": "Now nuns have blended into everybody else or else faded away. Vocations drying up, nobody wants to be selfless any more, everybody wants their fun. No more nuns, no more rabbis. No more good people, waiting to have their fun in the afterlife. The thing about the afterlife, it kept this life within bounds somehow, like the Russians. Now there's just Japan, and technology, and the profit motive, and getting all you can while you can.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Rabbit at Rest", "slug": "rabbit-at-rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Rabbit_at_Rest_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:30" }, { "id": "9177e440-1f0a-4dfa-a4f6-a63cfb94e8db", "slug": "the-guarantee-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness/the-guarantee-that", "text": "The guarantee that our self enjoys an intended relation to the outer world is most, if not all, we ask from religion. God is the self projected onto reality by our natural and necessary optimism. He is the not-me personified.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Self-Consciousness", "slug": "self-consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Self-Consciousness_:_Memoirs_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:29" }, { "id": "606c9b61-8504-4ac1-8260-6d14cf38c4bd", "slug": "religion-enables-us-to-ignore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness/religion-enables-us-to-ignore", "text": "Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Self-Consciousness", "slug": "self-consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Self-Consciousness_:_Memoirs_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:29" }, { "id": "356a407f-a477-4198-baff-ae4b55e95496", "slug": "our-brains-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness/our-brains-are", "text": "Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second Coming that would not be cut down to size by the televised evening news, or a Last Judgment not subject to pages of holier-than-Thou second-guessing in The New York Review of Books.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Self-Consciousness", "slug": "self-consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/self-consciousness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Self-Consciousness_:_Memoirs_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:29" }, { "id": "a306a4aa-ac49-4387-aab4-1c6cfbe188b5", "slug": "in-primis-venerare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-georgics/in-primis-venerare", "text": "In primis venerare Deos.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virgil", "slug": "virgil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil" }, "book": { "title": "The Georgics", "slug": "the-georgics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-georgics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virgil#Georgics_(29_BC)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:19" }, { "id": "43d96752-c557-49aa-9fd6-5031b7a380c3", "slug": "the-times-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter/how-to-talk-to-a-liberal-if-you-must/the-times-was", "text": "The Times was rushing to assure its readers that \"prominent Islamic scholars and theologians in the West say unequivocally that nothing in Islam countenances the Sept. 11 actions.\" (That's if you set aside Muhammad's many specific instructions to kill nonbelievers whenever possible).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ann Coulter", "slug": "ann-coulter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter" }, "book": { "title": "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)", "slug": "how-to-talk-to-a-liberal-if-you-must", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter/how-to-talk-to-a-liberal-if-you-must" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "terrorism", "slug": "terrorism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/terrorism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter#How_to_Talk_to_a_Liberal_(If_You_Must)_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:17" }, { "id": "ea77a7ad-251f-43d3-bb17-fa7c5fdf84ee", "slug": "catholicism-has-begotten", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/catholicism-has-begotten", "text": "Catholicism has begotten much great art; Protestantism none at all – not a single painting. But Catholicism has fostered art in the very teeth of Christianity. The Kingdom of Christ, if it ever comes, will contain no art; Christ never showed the least concern with it. His church has inspired much but not because of anything the Master said. Who then was the inspirer? The much-maligned Devil, one supposes. It is he who understands and ministers to man's carnal and intellectual self, and art is carnal and intellectual.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#What's_Bred_in_the_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "c528944a-d18b-4548-b0c5-e89afe29ca42", "slug": "she-knew-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/she-knew-enough", "text": "She knew enough about the McRorys to hang them, she told herself, but she held her tongue. Judge not that ye be not judged. Of course, you can't be a Calvinist without judging, but as a Calvinist you know what God's ordinances are, so it isn't really judging. It's just knowing right from wrong.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#What's_Bred_in_the_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "a5fd98c5-2cb1-40bb-945e-56cc35945a44", "slug": "no-it-is-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/no-it-is-in-the", "text": "\"No, it is in the story. I saw it in New York. The kings say, We bring you Gold, Frank Innocence, and Mirth.\" \"Sancta simplicitas,\" said Darcourt. \"If only there were more Mirth in the message He has left to us. We miss it sadly, in the world we have made.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "joy", "slug": "joy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/joy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#The_Rebel_Angels", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "1f56085c-ca44-4203-ad6d-ffe5bd432ede", "slug": "conservatives-believe-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter/treason/conservatives-believe-man", "text": "Conservatives believe man was created in God's image, while liberals believe they are gods. All of the behavioral tics of the liberals proceed from their godless belief that they can murder the unborn because they, the liberals, are themselves gods. They try to forcibly create \"equality\" through affirmative action and wealth redistribution because they are gods. They flat-out lie, with no higher power to constrain them, because they are gods. They adore pornography and the mechanization of sex because man is just an animal, and they are gods. They revere the U.N. and not the U.S. because they aren't Americans — they are gods.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ann Coulter", "slug": "ann-coulter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter" }, "book": { "title": "Treason", "slug": "treason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ann-coulter/treason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter#Treason_:_Liberal_Treachery_from_the_Cold_War_to_the_War_on_Terrorism_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "31ed1506-e1ec-438b-bbc0-a978f9bf8f7d", "slug": "naked-anger-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cunning-man/naked-anger-may", "text": "Naked anger may sometimes be seen in priests of the Church of Rome, but the Church of England prefers the icy smile, the false bonhomie, the sword concealed in the palm-branch.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cunning Man", "slug": "the-cunning-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cunning-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "anger", "slug": "anger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robertson_Davies#The_Cunning_Man_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:13" }, { "id": "12515361-885b-4da0-a977-74bc60d56079", "slug": "god-for-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/nostromo/god-for-men", "text": "\"God for men — religions for women,\" he muttered sometimes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Nostromo", "slug": "nostromo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/nostromo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad#Nostromo_(1904)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:11" }, { "id": "b1655273-16fd-4d5e-a043-d0589223ff24", "slug": "circumcision-is-startling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife/circumcision-is-startling", "text": "Circumcision is startling, all right, particularly when performed by a garlicked old man upon the glory of a newborn body, but then maybe that’s what the Jews had in mind and what makes the act seem quintessentially Jewish and the mark of their reality. Circumcision makes it clear as can be that you are here and not there, that you are out and not in — also that you’re mine and not theirs.... Quite convincingly, circumcision gives the lie to the womb-dream of life in the beautiful state of innocent prehistory, the appealing idyll of living \"naturally,\" unencumbered by man-made ritual. To be born is to lose all that. The heavy hand of human values falls upon you right at the start, marking your genitals as its own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Counterlife", "slug": "the-counterlife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Counterlife_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "cc42959c-7879-4d46-8abf-f07d10cd434e", "slug": "utopus-having-understood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia/utopus-having-understood", "text": "Utopus having understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy thing to conquer them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued them he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument and by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of other opinions; but that he ought to use no other force but that of persuasion, and was neither to mix with it reproaches nor violence; and such as did otherwise were to be condemned to banishment or slavery.\n\nThis law was made by Utopus, not only for preserving the public peace, which he saw suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, but because he thought the interest of religion itself required it. He judged it not fit to determine anything rashly; and seemed to doubt whether those different forms of religion might not all come from God, who might inspire man in a different manner, and be pleased with this variety; he therefore thought it indecent and foolish for any man to threaten and terrify another to make him believe what did not appear to him to be true. And supposing that only one religion was really true, and the rest false, he imagined that the native force of truth would at last break forth and shine bright, if supported only by the strength of argument, and attended to with a gentle and unprejudiced mind; while, on the other hand, if such debates were carried on with violence and tumults, as the most wicked are always the most obstinate, so the best and most holy religion might be choked with superstition, as corn is with briars and thorns; he therefore left men wholly to their liberty, that they might be free to believe as they should see cause.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas More", "slug": "thomas-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more" }, "book": { "title": "Utopia", "slug": "utopia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_More#Utopia_(1516)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:05" }, { "id": "ca8506e4-e433-4753-ad7f-d2455df02a12", "slug": "those-among-them", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia/those-among-them", "text": "Those among them that have not received our religion do not fright any from it, and use none ill that goes over to it, so that all the while I was there one man was only punished on this occasion. He being newly baptised did, notwithstanding all that we could say to the contrary, dispute publicly concerning the Christian religion, with more zeal than discretion, and with so much heat, that he not only preferred our worship to theirs, but condemned all their rites as profane, and cried out against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned to everlasting burnings. Upon his having frequently preached in this manner he was seized, and after trial he was condemned to banishment, not for having disparaged their religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition; for this is one of their most ancient laws, that no man ought to be punished for his religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas More", "slug": "thomas-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more" }, "book": { "title": "Utopia", "slug": "utopia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_More#Utopia_(1516)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:05" }, { "id": "9abcbe71-a874-48d2-bd83-1db49874207d", "slug": "there-are-several", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia/there-are-several", "text": "There are several sorts of religions, not only in different parts of the island, but even in every town; some worshipping the sun, others the moon or one of the planets. Some worship such men as have been eminent in former times for virtue or glory, not only as ordinary deities, but as the supreme god. Yet the greater and wiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore one eternal, invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible Deity; as a Being that is far above all our apprehensions, that is spread over the whole universe, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue; Him they call the Father of All, and acknowledge that the beginnings, the increase, the progress, the vicissitudes, and the end of all things come only from Him; nor do they offer divine honours to any but to Him alone. And, indeed, though they differ concerning other things, yet all agree in this: that they think there is one Supreme Being that made and governs the world, whom they call, in the language of their country, Mithras. They differ in this: that one thinks the god whom he worships is this Supreme Being, and another thinks that his idol is that god; but they all agree in one principle, that whoever is this Supreme Being, He is also that great essence to whose glory and majesty all honours are ascribed by the consent of all nations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas More", "slug": "thomas-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more" }, "book": { "title": "Utopia", "slug": "utopia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_More#Utopia_(1516)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:05" }, { "id": "d43e6324-4742-4d6e-aedb-fc7044eaeb18", "slug": "it-is-needless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir/it-is-needless", "text": "It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;\n\nFor the priest, the warrior. the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God.\n\nIt is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be;\n\nThe barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter —\n\nEven Raidas was a seeker after God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kabir", "slug": "kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir" }, "book": { "title": "Songs of Kabir", "slug": "songs-of-kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kabir#Songs_of_Kab%C3%AEr_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:04" }, { "id": "b28a2a2d-a105-4c01-acb1-e5c626e75ec6", "slug": "o-servant-where", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir/o-servant-where", "text": "O servant, where dost thou seek Me?\n\nLo! I am beside thee.\n\nI am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:\n\nNeither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation.\n\nIf thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kabir", "slug": "kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir" }, "book": { "title": "Songs of Kabir", "slug": "songs-of-kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kabir#Songs_of_Kab%C3%AEr_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:04" }, { "id": "9895b487-63fd-4e9b-b512-f1d045ff4c64", "slug": "hindus-and-moslems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir/hindus-and-moslems", "text": "Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kabir", "slug": "kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir" }, "book": { "title": "Songs of Kabir", "slug": "songs-of-kabir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kabir#Songs_of_Kab%C3%AEr_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:04" }, { "id": "c66a3338-ba70-4461-984e-175c255d34c2", "slug": "i-think-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday/i-think-that", "text": "I think that you are immune to the temptations of religion. If you are not, I cannot help you, any more than I could keep you from acquiring a drug habit. A religion is sometimes a source of happiness and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong—and you are strong. The great trouble with religion—any religion—is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask in at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason—but one cannot have both.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Friday", "slug": "friday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 253, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Friday_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:02" }, { "id": "9d64037e-e242-49a8-b567-f2c9043eab90", "slug": "religious-absolute-belief", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday/religious-absolute-belief", "text": "“Religious” = “absolute belief without proof.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Friday", "slug": "friday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 181, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Friday_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:02" }, { "id": "55caacc5-3b0d-4bf8-ab70-b06d2f44f45c", "slug": "the-most-preposterous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/the-most-preposterous", "text": "The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 248, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "43a446cf-e5d4-488d-a7bf-c910ab504deb", "slug": "the-historicity-of-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/the-historicity-of-jesus", "text": "The historicity of Jesus is the slipperiest question in all history because for centuries the question couldn’t be raised. They would hang you for asking — or burn you at the stake.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 357, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "99d4bc30-344d-46bc-8c81-4db22deb650e", "slug": "one-mans-theology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/one-mans-theology", "text": "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 243, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "558d3a3d-6217-4723-91ae-d72a2ad4225c", "slug": "any-priest-or-shaman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/any-priest-or-shaman", "text": "Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 240, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "2631f22c-b6a3-4dac-b286-6b22e7736ca4", "slug": "history-does-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/history-does-not", "text": "History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 241, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "31f7290a-afdf-44cc-abba-6b7922d9fe81", "slug": "i-dont-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/i-will-fear-no-evil/i-dont-think", "text": "I don’t think Father Hugo is any more mistaken than the most learned theologian and he might be closer to the truth. Jacob, I don’t think anyone knows Who’s in charge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "I Will Fear No Evil", "slug": "i-will-fear-no-evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/i-will-fear-no-evil" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 459, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#I_Will_Fear_No_Evil_(1970)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "b6d5b706-8e8a-4316-b1b5-0654c53b9e48", "slug": "from-my-point", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/from-my-point", "text": "From my point of view, a great deal of openly expressed piety is insufferable conceit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Past Through Tomorrow", "slug": "the-past-through-tomorrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 431, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#The_Past_Through_Tomorrow_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:56" }, { "id": "de535b3d-5d28-44de-b5b8-470e020deb95", "slug": "it-will-i-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/mansfield-park/it-will-i-believe", "text": "It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Mansfield Park", "slug": "mansfield-park", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/mansfield-park" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mansfield_Park_(novel)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:53" }, { "id": "d82b03d4-de63-42fd-9ed2-44787c9c7ecd", "slug": "everybody-likes-to-go-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/mansfield-park/everybody-likes-to-go-their", "text": "Everybody likes to go their own way— to choose their own time and manner of devotion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Mansfield Park", "slug": "mansfield-park", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/mansfield-park" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "independence", "slug": "independence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mansfield_Park_(novel)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:53" }, { "id": "54aa589a-3298-4eaa-bfb3-9f63cc6b7345", "slug": "science-can-destroy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end/science-can-destroy", "text": "Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "Childhood's End", "slug": "childhoods-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Childhood's_End#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:52" }, { "id": "053e8bb2-817d-43e0-8aba-9eb25ef0288f", "slug": "the-instrument-he-handed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end/the-instrument-he-handed", "text": "The instrument he handed over on permanent loan to the World History Foundation was nothing more than a television receiver with an elaborate set of controls for determining co-ordinates in time and space. [...] One had merely to adjust the controls, and a window into the past was opened up. Almost the whole of human history for the past five thousand years became accessible in an instant. [...]\n\nWithin a few days, all mankind's multitudinous messiahs had lost their divinity. Beneath the fierce passionless light of truth, faiths that had sustained millions for twice a thousand years vanished like morning dew. All the good and all the evil they had wrought were swept suddenly into the past, and could touch the minds of men no more. Humanity had lost its ancient gods: now it was old enough to have no need for new ones.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "Childhood's End", "slug": "childhoods-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Childhood's_End#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:52" }, { "id": "efecc22a-2a36-4401-b73a-3cb940721421", "slug": "immorality-no-less", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/immorality-no-less", "text": "Immorality, no less than morality, has at all times found support in religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "c9a07151-365d-4b33-85d5-11e46ca9b099", "slug": "in-so-doing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/in-so-doing", "text": "\"In so doing, the idea forces itself upon him that religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis, and he is optimistic enough to suppose that mankind will surmount this neurotic phase, just as so many children grow out of their similar neurosis.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "92e6cdad-16ae-42bc-982e-685734457392", "slug": "religion-is-a-system", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/religion-is-a-system", "text": "Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion's eleventh commandment is \"Thou shalt not question.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "927d9ac6-d69a-4b4d-b115-c5cfdbac7e90", "slug": "but-mans-helplessness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/but-mans-helplessness", "text": "But man's helplessness remains and along with it his longing for his father, and the gods. The gods retain their threefold task: they must exorcise the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelty of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed on them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "636dc531-31af-4e7c-9dbd-e1a65835b366", "slug": "where-the-questions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/where-the-questions", "text": "Where the questions of religion are concerned people are guilty of every possible kind of insincerity and intellectual misdemeanor.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "0e81ebc6-cd66-422e-97c9-24bf06e16da7", "slug": "the-true-believer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/the-true-believer", "text": "The true believer is in a high degree protected against the danger of certain neurotic afflictions, by accepting the universal neurosis he is spared the task of forming a personal neurosis.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "a1a2db52-7d24-4ff9-9df5-d9a1c5617d8b", "slug": "if-the-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/if-the-truth", "text": "If the truth of religious doctrines is dependent on an inner experience that bears witness to the truth, what is one to make of the many people who do not have that experience?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:48" }, { "id": "8291d679-29c9-43fe-b680-59eab52a5523", "slug": "religious-ideas-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/religious-ideas-have", "text": "Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself against the crushing supremacy of nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:48" }, { "id": "42bd69e6-9b67-4d3c-8108-31257196a68c", "slug": "religious-doctrines-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/religious-doctrines-are", "text": "Religious doctrines … are all illusions, they do not admit of proof, and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or to believe in them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:48" }, { "id": "14a756f7-3f6d-4efe-a476-ca68421eef79", "slug": "i-know-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/dubliners/i-know-all", "text": "I know all about the honour of God, Mary Jane, but I think it's not at all honourable for the pope to turn out the women out of the choirs that have slaved there all their lives and put little whipper-snappers of boys over their heads. I suppose it is for the good of the Church if the pope does it. But it's not just, Mary Jane, and it's not right.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Dubliners", "slug": "dubliners", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/dubliners" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Joyce#Dubliners_(1914)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:46" }, { "id": "45c0f6a5-79a7-4db4-9bf2-72a55db7aeca", "slug": "the-working-man-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/upton-sinclair/the-jungle/the-working-man-was", "text": "The working-man was to fix his hopes upon a future life, while his pockets were picked in this one; he was brought up to frugality, humility, obedience—in short to all the pseudo-virtues of capitalism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Upton Sinclair", "slug": "upton-sinclair", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/upton-sinclair" }, "book": { "title": "The Jungle", "slug": "the-jungle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/upton-sinclair/the-jungle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Jungle_(novel)#Chapter_31", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:44" }, { "id": "fdb03f17-41b9-4eb3-b5e3-c0b4a8627d63", "slug": "it-is-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-more", "text": "It is more difficult for a modern scientist to be a serious Christian, like Polkinghorne, than to be a serious Muslim, like the Nobel Prize-winning physicisit Abdus Salam. Salam happily proclaimed his Muslim faith but did not feel any need to write books about it. For Salam, the idea of a conflict between his faith and his science was ludicrous. Muslim faith has nothing to do with science. But Polkinghorne writes books to prove to himself and to us that his theology and his science can live together harmoniously..", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "f6ff3e4b-0d67-4fbd-8c47-88a79d748039", "slug": "it-is-a-curious-accident", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-a-curious-accident", "text": "It is a curious accident of history that the Christian religion became heavily involved with theology. No other religion finds it necessary to formulate elaborately precise statements about the abstract qualities and relationships of gods and humans. ... The idea that God may be approached and understood through intellectual analysis is uniquely Christian.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "e6fd3467-1fec-4d65-8bd9-a3f4c443804f", "slug": "it-is-probably", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-probably", "text": "It is probably not an accident that modern science grew explosively in Christian Europe and left the rest of the world behind. A thousand years of theological disputes nurtured the habit of analytical thinking that could also be applied to the analysis of natural phenomena. On the other hand, the close historical relations between theology and science have caused conflicts between science and Christianity that does not exist between science and other religions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "98660427-e18f-4166-9085-1ecf7a78a0df", "slug": "the-common-root", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/the-common-root", "text": "The common root of modern science and Christian theology was Greek philosophy. The historical accident that caused the Christian religion to become heavily theological was the fact that Jesus was born in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire at the time when the prevailing culture was profoundly Greek.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "7e609fa4-48eb-45dc-a257-f4dba665cab0", "slug": "when-all-is-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/when-all-is-said", "text": "When all is said and done, science is about things and theology is about words. Things behave in the same way everywhere, but words do not. ... Theology works in one culture alone. If you have not grown up in Polkinghorne's culture, where words such as \"incarnation\" and \"trinity\" have a profound meaning, you cannot share his vision.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "words", "slug": "words", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "c7a1e8a7-9aa4-4b26-8608-94d3fe55b858", "slug": "the-gods-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/the-gods-had", "text": "The gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The Martian Chronicles", "slug": "the-martian-chronicles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury#The_Martian_Chronicles_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "a3ee35ce-5c84-4c08-ab0d-91b5c46f0935", "slug": "they-knew-how", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/they-knew-how", "text": "They knew how to live with nature and get along with nature. They didn’t try too hard to be all men and no animal. That’s the mistake we made when Darwin showed up. We embraced him and Huxley and Freud, all smiles. And then we discovered that Darwin and our religions didn’t mix. Or at least we didn’t think they did, We were fools. We tried to budge Darwin and Huxley and Freud. They wouldn’t move very well. So, like idiots, we tried knocking down religion. We succeeded pretty well. We lost our faith and went around wondering what life was for. If art was no more than a frustrated outflinging of desire, if religion was no more than self-delusion, what good was life? Faith had always given us answers to all things. But it all went down the drain with Freud and Darwin. We were and still are a lost people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The Martian Chronicles", "slug": "the-martian-chronicles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "9d758e55-0979-4c8f-8bdd-61832de0fb86", "slug": "dont-these-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-october-country/dont-these-people", "text": "“Don’t these people ever get lonely?”\n\n“They’re used to it this way.”\n\n“Don’t they get afraid, then?”\n\n”They have a religion for that.”\n\n“I wish I had a religion.”\n\n“The minute you get a religion you stop thinking,” he said. “Believe in one thing too much and you have no room for new ideas.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The October Country", "slug": "the-october-country", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-october-country" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury#The_October_Country_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "53fbe2c1-bc9b-4d2c-a478-4c5daf6d1c59", "slug": "yes-their-cities", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/yes-their-cities", "text": "Yes, their cities are good. They knew how to blend art into their living. It’s always been a thing apart for Americans. Art was something you kept in the crazy son’s room upstairs. Art was something you took in Sunday doses, mixed with religion, perhaps. Well, these Martians have art and religion and everything.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The Martian Chronicles", "slug": "the-martian-chronicles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "1fc42621-779f-4fa4-933b-cc986a72eda0", "slug": "i-love-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave/i-love-the", "text": "I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frederick Douglass", "slug": "frederick-douglass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass" }, "book": { "title": "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave", "slug": "narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass#Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Frederick_Douglass,_An_American_Slave_(1845)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:07" }, { "id": "135f2dd6-fb40-420d-b302-5c88f6db7252", "slug": "we-have-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave/we-have-men", "text": "We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frederick Douglass", "slug": "frederick-douglass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass" }, "book": { "title": "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave", "slug": "narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass#Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Frederick_Douglass,_An_American_Slave_(1845)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:07" }, { "id": "0bb17eba-b5d5-43cf-b0b6-98a9d83a5c62", "slug": "i-assert-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave/i-assert-most", "text": "I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes-a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, — a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, — and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frederick Douglass", "slug": "frederick-douglass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass" }, "book": { "title": "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave", "slug": "narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass#Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Frederick_Douglass,_An_American_Slave_(1845)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:07" }, { "id": "82f06b66-edbc-4353-a86d-d4baf34919a8", "slug": "the-secular-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation/the-secular-state", "text": "The secular state is the guarantee of religious pluralism. This apparent paradox, again, is the simplest and most elegant of political truths.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "Unacknowledged Legislation", "slug": "unacknowledged-legislation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Unacknowledged_Legislation:_Writers_in_the_Public_Sphere_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:05" }, { "id": "254ab8d6-e1f5-454b-823b-04397288abb1", "slug": "sacerdotal-religious-or-priest-dominated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/night-lamp/sacerdotal-religious-or-priest-dominated", "text": "Sacerdotal, religious or priest-dominated societies are like organisms with a cancer.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "Night Lamp", "slug": "night-lamp", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/night-lamp" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 183, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Night_Lamp_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:04" }, { "id": "9f17872b-44fc-4ade-8977-fd604ae19117", "slug": "are-you-yourself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-green-pearl/are-you-yourself", "text": "“Are you yourself a Christian?”\n\nThe young man made a negative sign. “The concepts of religion baffle me.”\n\n“This inscrutability is perhaps not unintentional,” said the ex-priest. “It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "The Green Pearl", "slug": "the-green-pearl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-green-pearl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 367, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Green_Pearl_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:03" }, { "id": "438c498c-11f6-4884-bbbd-6798e26c4eef", "slug": "if-religions-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-face/if-religions-are", "text": "If religions are diseases of the human psyche, as the philosopher Grintholde asserts, then religious wars must be reckoned the resultant sores and cankers infecting the aggregate corpus of the human race. Of all wars, these are the most detestable, since they are waged for no tangible gain, but only to impose a set of arbitrary credos upon another’s mind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "The Face", "slug": "the-face", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-face" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 17, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Face_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:58" }, { "id": "76cdd68f-3bd3-45d0-8259-b6e443a4febe", "slug": "you-must-save", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-dying-earth/you-must-save", "text": "“You must save yourselves,” Rogol Domedonfors told them. “You have ignored the ancient wisdom, you have been too indolent to learn, you have sought easy complacence from religion, rather than facing manfully to the world.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "The Dying Earth", "slug": "the-dying-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-dying-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "laziness", "slug": "laziness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/laziness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Dying_Earth_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:56" }, { "id": "a74b44b7-9b4f-4d13-8566-08977e1b3525", "slug": "i-dont-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/i-dont-see", "text": "\"I don't see what's so t'riffic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people,\" said Adam severely. \"Anyway, if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Saturday", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:54" }, { "id": "d30c4687-cc7b-4b22-ad74-a301adfe8199", "slug": "it-was-then", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/it-was-then", "text": "It was then that Marvin got religion. Not the quiet, personal kind, that involves doing good deeds and living a better life; not even the kind that involves putting on a suit and ringing people's doorbells; but the kind that involves having your own TV network and getting people to send you money.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Saturday", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:53" }, { "id": "b9db6d58-f797-4761-a5b2-c675e8ea580d", "slug": "the-world-is-a-lot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/the-world-is-a-lot", "text": "The world is a lot more complicated than most people believe. Many people believed, for example, that Marvin was not a true Believer because he made so much money out of it. They were wrong. He believed with all his heart. He believed utterly, and spent a lot of the money that flooded in on what he really thought was the Lord's work.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Saturday", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:53" }, { "id": "4f090d78-2f38-46eb-a3b9-487ea437d598", "slug": "pleasure-the-outer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/venus-plus-x/pleasure-the-outer", "text": "Pleasure, the outer edge of ecstasy, was in the dour days of Protestantism, considered sinful in itself, wherever gained; Rome held specifically that any or all sexual pleasure was sinful. And for all this capped volcano produced in terms of bridges and houses, factories and bombs, it gouted from its riven sides a frightful harvest of neurosis. And even where a nation officially discarded the church, the same repressive techniques remained, the same preoccupation with doctrine, filtered through the same mesh of guilt. So sex and religion, the real meaning of human existence, ceased to be meaning and became means; the unbridgeable hostility between the final combatants was the proof of the identity of their aim—the total domination, for the ultimate satisfaction of the will to superiority, of all human minds.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Sturgeon", "slug": "theodore-sturgeon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon" }, "book": { "title": "Venus Plus X", "slug": "venus-plus-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/venus-plus-x" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 130, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon#Venus_Plus_X_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:49" }, { "id": "456ed432-401b-4bb5-bc8e-338262ff7222", "slug": "father-dominated-people-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/venus-plus-x/father-dominated-people-who", "text": "Father-dominated people who form father-dominated cultures have father-religions: a male deity, an authoritative scripture, a strong central government, an intolerance for inquiry and research, a repressive sexual attitude, a deep conservatism (for one does not change what Father built), a rigid demarcation, in dress and conduct, between the sexes, and a profound horror of homosexuality.\n\nMother-dominated people who form mother-dominated cultures have mother religions: a female deity served by priestesses, a liberal government—one which feeds the masses and succors the helpless—a great tolerance for experimental thought, a permissive attitude toward sex, a hazy boundary between the insignes of the sexes, and a dread of incest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Sturgeon", "slug": "theodore-sturgeon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon" }, "book": { "title": "Venus Plus X", "slug": "venus-plus-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/venus-plus-x" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 131, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "masculinity", "slug": "masculinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/masculinity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon#Venus_Plus_X_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:49" }, { "id": "db34c890-3d16-41fa-8ed7-5dc29232c481", "slug": "for-it-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/for-it-is-not", "text": "For it is not the bare Words, but the Scope of the writer that giveth true light, by which any writing is to bee interpreted; and they that insist upon single Texts, without considering the main Designe, can derive no thing from them clearly; but rather by casting atomes of Scripture, as dust before mens eyes, make everything more obscure than it is; an ordinary artifice of those who seek not the truth, but their own advantage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 331, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_43", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "d3ed4144-e45b-4121-aea3-83f8c004f06d", "slug": "to-say-he-hath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/to-say-he-hath", "text": "To say he hath spoken to him in a Dream, is no more then to say he dreamed that God spake to him; which is not of force to win beleef from any man, that knows dreams are for the most part naturall, and may proceed from former thoughts; and such dreams as that, from selfe conceit, and foolish arrogance, and false opinion of a mans own goodlinesse, or other vertue, by which he thinks he hath merited the favour of extraordinary Revelation. To say he hath seen a Vision, or heard a Voice, is to say, that he dreamed between sleeping and waking: for in such manner a man doth many times naturally take his dream for a vision, as not having well observed his own slumbering. To say he speaks by supernaturall Inspiration, is to say he finds an ardent desire to speak, or some strong opinion of himself, for which hee can alledge no naturall and sufficient reason. So that though God Almighty can speak to a man, by Dreams, Visions, Voice, and Inspiration; yet he obliges no man to beleeve he hath so done to him that pretends it; who (being a man) may erre, and (which is more) may lie.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 271, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_32", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "46c6f96d-a714-42de-ac00-7638fcbaa380", "slug": "and-if-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-if-a-man", "text": "And if a man consider the original of this great Ecclesiastical Dominion, he will easily perceive, that the Papacy, is no other than the Ghost of the deceased Romane Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof: For so did the Papacy start up on a Sudden out of the Ruines of that Heathen Power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 386, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_46", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "de803bf8-5713-4b17-9369-776c57a0365d", "slug": "and-in-these", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-in-these", "text": "And in these foure things, Opinion of Ghosts, Ignorance of second causes, Devotion towards what men fear, and Taking of things Casuall for Prognostics, consisteth the Natural seed of Religion; which by reason of the different Fancies, Judgements, and Passions of severall men, hath grown up into ceremonies so different, that those which are used by one man, are for the most part ridiculous to another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 54, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_12", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "4e89dea0-1254-439c-a3a1-c768cfedf985", "slug": "and-this-feare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-this-feare", "text": "And this Feare of things invisible, is the naturall Seed of that, which every one in himself calleth Religion; and in them that worship, or feare that Power otherwise than they do, Superstition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 51, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_11", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "90a243ac-83d7-4b67-88c3-865bea019195", "slug": "socialism-is-no-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country/socialism-is-no-more", "text": "Socialism is no more an evil word than Christianity. Socialism no more prescribed Joseph Stalin and his secret police and shuttered churches than Christianity prescribed the Spanish Inquisition. Christianity and socialism alike, in fact, prescribe a society dedicated to the proposition that all men, women, and children are created equal and shall not starve.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "A Man Without a Country", "slug": "a-man-without-a-country", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" }, { "name": "socialism", "slug": "socialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/socialism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#A_Man_Without_a_Country_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:46" }, { "id": "55247051-df82-4539-a1fd-82e8824e7698", "slug": "i-dont-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country/i-dont-know", "text": "I don't know about you, but I practice a disorganized religion. I belong to an unholy disorder. We call ourselves \"Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "A Man Without a Country", "slug": "a-man-without-a-country", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#A_Man_Without_a_Country_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:46" }, { "id": "40e7adaf-ef87-44bd-b05f-af8666ad60a6", "slug": "about-belief-or-lack", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-dr-kevorkian/about-belief-or-lack", "text": "About belief or lack of belief in an afterlife: Some of you may know that I am neither Christian nor Jewish nor Buddhist, nor a conventionally religious person of any sort.\n\nI am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead. My German-American ancestors, the earliest of whom settled in our Middle West about the time of our Civil War, called themselves \"Freethinkers,\" which is the same sort of thing. My great grandfather Clemens Vonnegut wrote, for example, \"If what Jesus said was good, what can it matter whether he was God or not?\"\n\nI myself have written, \"If it weren't for the message of mercy and pity in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, I wouldn't want to be a human being. I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian", "slug": "god-bless-you-dr-kevorkian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-dr-kevorkian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 80, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#God_Bless_You,_Dr._Kevorkian_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:45" }, { "id": "7b0ef516-c9d1-4a35-b0ea-98e8d66eb826", "slug": "the-sermon-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/the-sermon-was", "text": "The sermon was based on what he claimed was a well-known fact, that there were no Atheists in foxholes. I asked Jack what he thought of the sermon afterwards, and he said, \"There's a Chaplain who never visited the front.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Hocus Pocus", "slug": "hocus-pocus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43" }, { "id": "5a502e26-e417-4aaf-bbdc-d6f22680607f", "slug": "congressman-nixon-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/jailbird/congressman-nixon-had", "text": "Congressman Nixon had asked me why, as the son of immigrants who had been treated so well by Americans, as a man who had been treated like a son and been sent to Harvard by an American capitalist, I had been so ungrateful to the American economic system.\n\nThe answer I gave him was not original. Nothing about me has ever been original. I repeated what my one-time hero, Kenneth Whistler, had said in reply to the same general sort of question long, long ago. Whistler had been a witness at a trial of strikers accused of violence. The judge had become curious about him, had asked him why such a well-educated man from such a good family would so immerse himself in the working class.\n\nMy stolen answer to Nixon was this: \"Why? The Sermon on the Mount, sir.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Jailbird", "slug": "jailbird", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/jailbird" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Jailbird_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:41" }, { "id": "ccf8485e-6f74-494c-8a37-56a9d34325f2", "slug": "well-when-it-became", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/well-when-it-became", "text": "“Well, when it became evident that no governmental or economic reform was going to make the people much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope. Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:37" }, { "id": "9c53e205-798a-4ab9-b7f8-ddbc9f5f65ce", "slug": "i-agree-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/i-agree-with", "text": "I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:37" }, { "id": "130562f0-1aec-4c44-8487-c7459d448a38", "slug": "anyone-unable-to-understand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/anyone-unable-to-understand", "text": "Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.So be it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:36" }, { "id": "bd0b2cb5-526b-4346-862c-9b6deca14212", "slug": "any-man-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan/any-man-who", "text": "\"Any man who would change the World in a significant way must have showmanship, a genial willingness to shed other people's blood, and a plausible new religion to introduce during the brief period of repentance and horror that usually follows bloodshed.\n\n\"Every failure of Earthling leadership has been traceable to a lack on the part of the leader,\" says Rumfoord, \"of at least one of these three things.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "The Sirens of Titan", "slug": "the-sirens-of-titan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 174, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "leadership", "slug": "leadership", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/leadership" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#The_Sirens_of_Titan_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:35" }, { "id": "06a793d8-4ade-464f-adb3-c671e8c95c29", "slug": "the-name-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan/the-name-of-the", "text": "\"The name of the new religion,\" said Rumfoord, \"is The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent.\n\n\"The flag of that church will be blue and gold,\" said Rumfoord. \"These words will be written on that flag in gold letters on a blue field: Take Care of the People, and God Almighty Will Take Care of Himself.\n\n\"The two chief teachings of this religion are these,\" said Rumfoord: \"Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "The Sirens of Titan", "slug": "the-sirens-of-titan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 180, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#The_Sirens_of_Titan_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:35" }, { "id": "9a2619c8-ab46-4ecc-a6d6-887db9e74196", "slug": "these-displaced-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano/these-displaced-people", "text": "These displaced people need something, and the clergy can't give it to them—or it's impossible for them to take what the clergy offers. The clergy says it's enough, and so does the Bible. The people say it isn't enough, and I suspect they're right.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Player Piano", "slug": "player-piano", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 92, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Player_Piano_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:34" }, { "id": "ab58b709-3f78-4551-a0e0-339d1b6749fd", "slug": "restaurants-get-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/restaurants-get-you", "text": "Restaurants get you in with food to sell you liquor; religions get you in with belief to sell you rules.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 21, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "de8f24cc-3190-47e3-a351-8cc13f7b43b8", "slug": "surely-just-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/surely-just-about", "text": "Surely just about everybody has faced a moral dilemma and secretly wished, \"If only somebody — somebody I trusted — could just tell me what to do!\" Wouldn't this be morally inauthentic? Aren't we responsible for making our own moral decisions? Yes, but the virtues of \"do it yourself\" moral reasoning have their limits, and if you decide, after conscientious consideration, that your moral decision is to delegate further moral decisions in your life to a trusted expert, then you have made your own moral decision. You have decided to take advantage of the division of labor that civilization makes possible and get the help of expert specialists.We applaud the wisdom of this course in all other important areas of decision-making (don't try to be your own doctor, the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, and so forth). Even in the case of political decisions, like which way to vote, the policy of delegation can be defended. … Is the a dereliction of [one's] dut[y] as a citizen? I don't think so, but it does depend on my having good grounds for trusting [the delegate's] judgment. … That why those who have an unquestioning faith in the correctness of the moral teachings of their religion are a problem: if they themselves haven't conscientiously considered, on their own, whether their pastors or priests or rabbis or imams are worthy of this delegated authority over their own lives, then they are in fact taking a personally immoral stand.This is perhaps the most shocking implication of my inquiry, and I do not shrink from it, even though it may offend many who think of themselves as deeply moral. It is commonly supposed that it is entirely exemplary to adopt the moral teachings of one's own religion without question, because -- to put it simply — it is the word of God (as interpreted, always, by the specialists to whom one has delegated authority). I am urging, on the contrary, that anybody who professes that a particular point of moral conviction is not discussable, not debatable, not negotiable, simply because it is the word of God, or because the Bible says so, or because \"that is what all Muslims [Hindus, Sikhs ...] [sic] believe, and I am a Muslim [Hindu, Sikh ...]\" [sic], should be seen to be making it impossible for the rest of us to take their views seriously, excusing themselves from the moral conversation, inadvertently acknowledging that their own views are not conscientiously maintained and deserve no further hearing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "authority figures", "slug": "authority-figures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authority-figures" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "dc7488bb-4320-4e00-8321-7dc852d4ef28", "slug": "what-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/what-is-the", "text": "What [is] the prevailing attitude today among those who call themselves religious but vigorously advocate tolerance? There are three main options, ranging from the disingenuous Machiavellian--1. As a matter of political strategy, the time is not ripe for candid declarations of religious superiority, so we should temporize and let sleeping dogs lie in hopes that those of other faiths can gently be brought around over the centuries.--through truly tolerant Eisenhowerian \"Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply religious belief — and I don't care what it is\" --2. It really doesn't matter which religion you swear allegiance to, as long as you have some religion.--to the even milder Moynihanian benign neglect--3. Religion is just too dear to too many to think of discarding, even though it really doesn't do any good and is simply an empty historical legacy we can afford to maintain until it quietly extinguishes itself sometime in the distant and unforeseeable future.It it no use asking people which they choose, since both extremes are so undiplomatic we can predict in advance that most people will go for some version of ecumenical tolerance whether they believe it or not. ...We've got ourselves caught in a hypocrisy trap, and there is no clear path out. Are we like families in which the adults go through all the motions of believing in Santa Claus for the sake of the kids, and the kids all pretend still to believe in Santa Claus so as not to spoil the adults' fun? If only our current predicament were as innocuous and even comical as that! In the adult world of religion, people are dying and killing, with the moderates cowed into silence by the intransigence of the radicals in their own faiths, and many afraid to acknowledge what they actually believe for fear of breaking Granny's heart, or offending their neighbors to the point of getting run out of town, or worse.If this is the precious meaning our lives are vouchsafed thanks to our allegiance to one religion or another, it is not such a bargain, in my opinion. Is this the best we can do? Is it not tragic that so many people around the world find themselves enlisted against their will in a conspiracy of silence, either because they secretly believe that most of the world's population is wasting their lives in delusion (but they are too tenderhearted — or devious — to say so), or because they secretly believe that their own tradition is just such a delusion (but they fear for their own safety if they admit it)?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "f2cce3a8-f3a6-40df-bb1e-04f203db0121", "slug": "the-daily-actions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/the-daily-actions", "text": "The daily actions of religious people have accomplished uncounted good deeds throughout history, alleviating suffering, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick. Religions have brought the comfort of belonging and companionship to many who would otherwise have passed through this life all alone, without glory or adventure. They have not just provided first aid, in effect, for people in difficulties; they have provided the means for changing the world in ways that remove those difficulties. As Alan Wolfe says, \"Religion can lead people out of cycles of poverty and dependency just as it led Moses out of Egypt\". There is much for religion lovers to be proud of in their traditions, and much for all of us to be grateful for.The fact that so many people love their religions as much as, or more than, anything else in their lives is a weighty fact indeed. I am inclined to think that nothing could matter more than what people love. At any rate, I can think of no value that I would place higher. I would not want to live in a world without love. Would a world with peace, but without love, be a better world? Not if the peace was achieved by drugging the love (and hate) out of us, or by suppression. Would a world with justice and freedom, but without love, be a better world? Not if it was achieved by somehow turning us all into loveless law-abiders with none of the yearnings or envies or hatreds that are wellsprings of injustice and subjugation.It is hard to consider such hypotheticals, and I doubt if we should trust our first intuitions about them, but, for what it is worth, I surmise that we almost all want a world in which love, justice, freedom, and peace are all present, as much as possible, but if we had to give up one of these, it wouldn't — and shouldn't — be love. But, sad to say, even if it is true that nothing could matter more than love, it wouldn't follow from this that we don't have reason to question the things that we, and others, love. Love is blind, as they say, and because love is blind, it often leads to tragedy: to conflicts in which one love is pitted against another love, and something has to give, with suffering guaranteed in any resolution.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:29" }, { "id": "e1531a44-3f84-4034-8a03-965e186b2f71", "slug": "if-i-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/if-i-were", "text": "If I were designing a phony religion, I'd surely include a version of this little gem — but I'd have a hard time saying it with a straight face:If anybody ever raises questions of objections about our religion that you cannot answer, that person is almost certainly Satan. In fact, the more reasonable the person is, the more eager to engage you in open-minded and congenial discussion, the more sure you can be that you're talking to Satan in disguise! Turn away! Do not listen! It's a trap!What is particularly cute about this trick is that it is a perfect \"wild card,\" so lacking in content that any sect or creed or conspiracy can use it effectively. Communist cells can be warned that any criticism they encounter is almost sure to be the work of FBI infiltrators in disguise, and radical feminist discussion groups can squelch any unanswerable criticism by declaring it to be phallocentric propaganda being unwittingly spread by a brainwashed dupe of the evil patriarchy, and so forth. This all-purpose loyalty-enforcer is paranoia in a pill, sure to keep the critics muted if not silent.Did anyone invent this brilliant adaptation, or is it a wild meme that domesticated itself by attaching itself to whatever memes were competing for hosts in its neighborhood? Nobody knows, but now it is available for anybody to use — although, if this book has any success, its virulence should diminish as people begin to recognize it for what it is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:29" }, { "id": "52398b4c-8410-4ab9-9429-d0db57f7f507", "slug": "t-here-are-no-forces", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea/t-here-are-no-forces", "text": "[T]here are no forces on this planet more dangerous to us all than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism, of all species: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as countless smaller infections.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", "slug": "darwins-dangerous-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Darwin's_Dangerous_Idea_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:29" }, { "id": "0421a48f-fa44-4417-8edb-5e3499d43e69", "slug": "many-religious-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling/plain-tales-from-the-hills/many-religious-people", "text": "Many religious people are deeply suspicious. They seem—for purely religious purposes, of course—to know more about iniquity than the unregenerate.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Rudyard Kipling", "slug": "rudyard-kipling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling" }, "book": { "title": "Plain Tales from the Hills", "slug": "plain-tales-from-the-hills", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling/plain-tales-from-the-hills" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling#Plain_Tales_from_the_Hills_(1888)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:25" }, { "id": "324c9c13-657f-4fc6-a3e4-dcc149fafb83", "slug": "absolutely-everything-beloved", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain/absolutely-everything-beloved", "text": "Absolutely everything beloved and cherished of the bourgeoisie, the conservative, the cowardly, and the impotent — the State, family life, secular art and science — was consciously or unconsciously hostile to the religious idea, to the Church, whose innate tendency and permanent aim was the dissolution of all existing worldly orders, and the reconstitution of society after the model of the ideal, the communistic City of God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Mann", "slug": "thomas-mann", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann" }, "book": { "title": "The Magic Mountain", "slug": "the-magic-mountain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "communism", "slug": "communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/communism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann#The_Magic_Mountain_(1924)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:17" }, { "id": "a02c6876-0ee9-4a18-83be-0d784d3f49f2", "slug": "the-only-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain/the-only-religious", "text": "The only religious way to think of death is as part and parcel of life; to regard it, with the understanding and the emotions, as the inviolable condition of life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Mann", "slug": "thomas-mann", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann" }, "book": { "title": "The Magic Mountain", "slug": "the-magic-mountain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann#The_Magic_Mountain_(1924)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:16" }, { "id": "dc6d8229-6b68-44f3-bedb-2621aa71c09a", "slug": "the-gods-we-stand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/the-gods-we-stand", "text": "The gods we stand by are the gods we need and can use, the gods whose demands on us are reinforcements of our demands on ourselves and on one another. What I then propose to do is, briefly stated, to test saintliness by common sense, to use human standards to help us decide how far the religious life commends itself as an ideal kind of human activity . ... It is but the elimination of the humanly unfit, and the survival of the humanly fittest, applied to religious beliefs; and if we look at history candidly and without prejudice, we have to admit that no religion has ever in the long run established or proved itself in any other way. Religions have approved themselves; they have ministered to sundry vital needs which they found reigning. When they violated other needs too strongly, or when other faiths came which served the same needs better, the first religions were supplanted.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "cd12ed28-b17f-4f2f-a9ce-1955585ee5ba", "slug": "but-petitional-prayer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/but-petitional-prayer", "text": "But petitional prayer is only one department of prayer; and if we take the word in the wider sense as meaning every kind of inward communion or conversation with the power recognized as divine, we can easily see that scientific criticism leaves it untouched. Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "prayer", "slug": "prayer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prayer" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "82ca8186-5311-4a33-a513-401177f9d2b2", "slug": "the-collective-name", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/the-collective-name", "text": "The collective name for the ripe fruits of religion in a character is Saintliness. The saintly character is the character for which spiritual emotions are the habitual centre of the personal energy; and there is a certain composite photograph of universal saintliness, the same in all religions, of which the features can easily be traced.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "holiness", "slug": "holiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/holiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "77fb5d79-665d-44e7-a873-f61f33379c35", "slug": "science-has-ended", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/science-has-ended", "text": "Science... has ended by utterly repudiating the personal point of view. She catalogues her elements and records her laws indifferent as to what purpose may be shown forth by them, and constructs her theories quite careless of their bearing on human anxieties and fates. Though the scientist may individually nourish a religion, and be a theist in his irresponsible hours, the days are over when it could be said that for Science herself the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Our solar system, with its harmonies, is seen now as but one passing case of a certain sort of moving equilibrium in the heavens, realized by a local accident in an appalling wilderness of worlds where no life can exist. In a span of time which as a cosmic interval will count but as an hour, it will have ceased to be. The Darwinian notion of chance production, and subsequent destruction, speedy or deferred, applies to the largest as well as to the smallest facts. It is impossible, in the present temper of the scientific imagination, to find in the driftings of the cosmic atoms, whether they work on the universal or on the particular scale, anything but a kind of aimless weather, doing and undoing, achieving no proper history, and leaving no result. Nature has no one distinguishable ultimate tendency with which it is possible to feel a sympathy. In the vast rhythm of her processes... she appears to cancel herself. The books of natural theology which satisfied the intellects of our grandfathers seem to us quite grotesque, representing, as they did, a God who conformed the largest things of nature to the paltriest of our private wants. The God whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals. The bubbles on the foam which coats a stormy sea are floating episodes, made and unmade by the forces of the wind and water. Our private selves are like those bubbles—epiphenomena, as Clifford, I believe, ingeniously called them; their destinies weigh nothing and determine nothing in the world's irremediable currents of events.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "77bfdae6-7841-40cd-afd2-8cbda6f5e9d8", "slug": "a-genuine-first-hand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/a-genuine-first-hand", "text": "A genuine first-hand religious experience like this is bound to be a heterodoxy to its witnesses, the prophet appearing as a mere lonely madman. If his doctrine prove contagious enough to spread to any others, it becomes a definite and labeled heresy. But if it then still prove contagious enough to triumph over persecution, it becomes itself an orthodoxy; and when a religion has become an orthodoxy, its day of inwardness is over: the spring is dry; the faithful live at second hand exclusively and stone the prophets in their turn. The new church, in spite of whatever human goodness it may foster, can be henceforth counted on as a staunch ally in every attempt to stifle the spontaneous religious spirit, and to stop all later bubblings of the fountain from which in purer days it drew its own supply of inspiration.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "4ff31066-cbe4-4767-9907-7bbdfd0e3ecb", "slug": "is-dogmatic-or-scholastic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/is-dogmatic-or-scholastic", "text": "Is dogmatic or scholastic theology less doubted in point of fact for claiming, as it does, to be in point of right undoubtable? And if not, what command over truth would this kind of theology really lose if, instead of absolute certainty, she only claimed reasonable probability for her conclusions? If we claim only reasonable probability, it will be as much as men who love the truth can ever at any given moment hope to have within their grasp. Pretty surely it will be more than we could have had, if we were unconscious of our liability to err.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "471c8020-ab12-4177-b8ce-8872f6993744", "slug": "the-plain-fact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/the-plain-fact", "text": "The plain fact is that men's minds are built, as has been often said, in water-tight compartments. Religious after a fashion, they yet have many other things in them beside their religion, and unholy entanglements and associations inevitably obtain. The basenesses so commonly charged to religion's account are thus, almost all of them, not chargeable at all to religion proper, but rather to religion's wicked practical partner, the spirit of corporate dominion. And the bigotries are most of them in their turn chargeable to religion's wicked intellectual partner, the spirit of dogmatic dominion, the passion for laying down the law in the form of an absolutely closed-in theoretic system. The ecclesiastical spirit in general is the sum of these two spirits of dominion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "2cbfa474-c426-4a3b-a331-0024e5c9f3a8", "slug": "both-thought-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/both-thought-and", "text": "Both thought and feeling are determinants of conduct, and the same conduct may be determined either by feeling or by thought. When we survey the whole field of religion, we find a great variety in the thoughts that have prevailed there; but the feelings on the one hand and the conduct on the other are almost always the same, for Stoic, Christian, and Buddhist saints are practically indistinguishable in their lives. The theories which Religion generates, being thus variable, are secondary; and if you wish to grasp her essence, you must look to the feelings and the conduct as being the more constant elements. It is between these two elements that the short circuit exists on which she carries on her principal business, while the ideas and symbols and other institutions form loop-lines which may be perfections and improvements, and may even some day all be united into one harmonious system, but which are not to be regarded as organs with an indispensable function, necessary at all times for religious life to go on. This seems to me the first conclusion which we are entitled to draw from the phenomena we have passed in review.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "14b76ab5-cfe8-4940-a387-29d9f253e0de", "slug": "the-pivot-round", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/the-pivot-round", "text": "The pivot round which the religious life... revolves, is the interest of the individual in his private personal destiny. Religion, in short, is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism. The gods believed in—whether by crude savages or by men disciplined intellectually—agree with each other in recognizing personal calls. Religious thought is carried on in terms of personality, this being, in the world of religion, the one fundamental fact. To-day, quite as much as at any previous age, the religious individual tells you that the divine meets him on the basis of his personal concerns.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:15" }, { "id": "fda67735-8252-4b1c-942e-fa7478fbdfc3", "slug": "but-such-a-straight", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/but-such-a-straight", "text": "But such a straight identification of religion with any and every form of happiness leaves the essential peculiarity of religious happiness out. The more commonplace happinesses which we get are 'reliefs,' occasioned by our momentary escapes from evils either experienced or threatened. But in its most characteristic embodiments, religious happiness is no mere feeling of escape. It cares no longer to escape. It consents to the evil outwardly as a form of sacrifice — inwardly it knows it to be permanently overcome. ... In the Louvre there is a picture, by Guido Reni, of St. Michael with his foot on Satan's neck. The richness of the picture is in large part due to the fiend's figure being there. The richness of its allegorical meaning also is due to his being there — that is, the world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "f52d2c10-8e3f-4df3-a7ff-108a4872abd9", "slug": "the-advance-of-liberalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/the-advance-of-liberalism", "text": "The advance of liberalism, so-called, in Christianity, during the past fifty years, may fairly be called a victory of healthy-mindedness within the church over the morbidness with which the old hell-fire theology was more harmoniously related. We have now whole congregations whose preachers, far from magnifying our consciousness of sin, seem devoted rather to making little of it. They ignore, or even deny, eternal punishment, and insist on the dignity rather than on the depravity of man. They look at the continual preoccupation of the old-fashioned Christian with the salvation of his soul as something sickly and reprehensible rather than admirable; and a sanguine and 'muscular' attitude, which to our forefathers would have seemed purely heathen, has become in their eyes an ideal element of Christian character. I am not asking whether or not they are right, I am only pointing out the change.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hell", "slug": "hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "da72bde9-ea03-44bb-8ac6-6d0f37a4d0e7", "slug": "conversion-is-in-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/conversion-is-in-its", "text": "Conversion is in its essence a normal adolescent phenomenon, incidental to the passage from the child's small universe to the wider intellectual and spiritual life of maturity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "b361330a-776e-456a-a6cc-e26ba785b2ec", "slug": "it-makes-a-tremendous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/it-makes-a-tremendous", "text": "It makes a tremendous emotional and practical difference to one whether one accepts the universe in the drab discolored way of stoic resignation to necessity, or with the passionate happiness of Christian saints.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "8165fc93-b97d-4290-b4c5-bfecbea82dfe", "slug": "when-all-is-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/when-all-is-said", "text": "When all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as into our only permanent positions of repose. Now in those states of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused: even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "7957f072-7b8f-4511-939d-abec880a08ae", "slug": "religion-therefore-as-i-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/religion-therefore-as-i-now", "text": "Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "575790f1-9c21-477d-9080-e6fc7a8b87c0", "slug": "there-must-be-something", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/there-must-be-something", "text": "There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker; if sad, it must not scream or curse. It is precisely as being solemn experiences that I wish to interest you in religious experiences. ... The divine shall mean for us only such a primal reality as the individual feels impelled to respond to solemnly and gravely, and neither by a curse nor a jest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "30e84b6a-8054-431f-807c-024233f750cc", "slug": "religion-is-a-mans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/religion-is-a-mans", "text": "Religion...is a man's total reaction upon life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William James", "slug": "william-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Religious Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-religious-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James#The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience_(1902)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "1a8779b0-7d82-46d6-ac5a-f6420925f367", "slug": "our-savior-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/alvin-journeyman/our-savior-will", "text": "“Our savior will resurrect us,” said Peggy, “but I haven’t noticed that Christians end up any less dead at the end of life than heathens.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Alvin Journeyman", "slug": "alvin-journeyman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/alvin-journeyman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Alvin_Journeyman_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:13" }, { "id": "c93de329-a9e8-45f4-81e5-b28650755196", "slug": "she-cant-help", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet/she-cant-help", "text": "She can't help her red skin, and she isn't heathen. In fact, she's a Baptist, which is almost like being Christian, only louder.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Red Prophet", "slug": "red-prophet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Red_Prophet_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:12" }, { "id": "b7b1cb01-0d2c-4bb3-882b-5ec7de06b01e", "slug": "we-dont-go-to-fort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet/we-dont-go-to-fort", "text": "“We don’t go to Fort Chicago,” said Ta-Kumsaw. “We go to the holy place.”\n\n“A church?” asked Alvin.\n\nTa-Kumsaw laughed. “You White people, when you make a place holy you build walls so nothing of the land can get in. Your god is nothing and nowhere, so you build a church with nothing alive inside, a church that could be anywhere, it doesn’t matter—nothing and nowhere.”\n\n“Well what does make a place holy?” asked Alvin.\n\n“Because that’s where the Red man talks to the land, and the land answers.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Red Prophet", "slug": "red-prophet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "holiness", "slug": "holiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/holiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Red_Prophet_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:12" }, { "id": "c3cbba3b-eeb2-4365-8d0c-acf9fb4da1f9", "slug": "the-doctrine-he-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn/the-doctrine-he-was", "text": "The doctrine he was going to be teaching, starting tonight, was not the sort of ideology that would stir souls; no one would die for this religion. It would only attracts converts by promising a return to old tradition and by seeming to be the religion of the future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Earthborn", "slug": "earthborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Earthborn_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "75e35bf5-e965-4cc5-ad5d-de5038a20a02", "slug": "they-wont-be-required", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn/they-wont-be-required", "text": "They won't be required to sacrifice anything in order to belong to your assembly. A religion that is all sweetness, but no light; all form, but no substance; all tradition, but no precept.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Earthborn", "slug": "earthborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Earthborn_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "6e85a26d-2420-43b1-a3bb-aadcec2f309e", "slug": "as-the-caterpillar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son/as-the-caterpillar", "text": "As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Seventh Son", "slug": "seventh-son", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "joy", "slug": "joy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/joy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Seventh_Son_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "41ba82ed-39bb-4521-82e4-04b9385340b3", "slug": "ive-done-my-best", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son/ive-done-my-best", "text": "“I've done my best, but the boy is unteachable. He doubts everything, and contests each point of theology as if it were required to meet the same tests of logic and consistency that prevail in the world of science.”\n\n“In other words, he expects your doctrines to make sense.”\n\n“He is unwilling to accept the idea that some things remain mysteries, comprehensible only to the mind of God. Ambiguity makes him saucy, and paradox causes open rebellion.”\n\n“An obnoxious child.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Seventh Son", "slug": "seventh-son", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Seventh_Son_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "280aa4b8-d683-4d17-b526-5c3dc1b456a9", "slug": "sunday-morning-he-decided", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son/sunday-morning-he-decided", "text": "Sunday morning, he decided, is designed to let sinners have a sample of the first day of eternity in hell.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Seventh Son", "slug": "seventh-son", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Seventh_Son_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "04d040e3-cc02-4705-8dd2-60cab99386e9", "slug": "religion-makes-them", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son/religion-makes-them", "text": "Religion makes them crazy. Not a woman I ever met wasn't crazy with religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Seventh Son", "slug": "seventh-son", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Seventh_Son_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:11" }, { "id": "04582610-d7fb-4c4f-8716-e17cfa35ce88", "slug": "religion-isnt-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthfall/religion-isnt-always", "text": "Religion isn't always pretty. Especially viewed from the outside, by an unbeliever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Earthfall", "slug": "earthfall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthfall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Earthfall_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:10" }, { "id": "9d01ca37-e40b-426f-9e76-5cf6ba2df23a", "slug": "religion-which-should", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke/an-essay-concerning-human-understanding/religion-which-should", "text": "Religion, which should most distinguish us from the beasts, and ought most particularly elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Locke", "slug": "john-locke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke" }, "book": { "title": "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-essay-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke/an-essay-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Locke#An_Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1689)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:07" }, { "id": "cc5f7c44-929d-4a44-b446-853d3378ac9c", "slug": "within-the-scientific", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul/within-the-scientific", "text": "Within the scientific skeleton of truth, religious meaning attempts to flourish, often by denying the scientific framework itself—rather like sawing off the branch where you cheerily perch. The disgust is mutual because modern science gleefully denies virtually all the basic tenets of religion in general. According to the typical view of modern science, religion is not much more than a holdover from the childhood of humanity, with about as much reality as, say, Santa Claus. Whether the religious claims are more literal (Moses parting the Red Sea) or more mystical (religion involves direct spiritual experience), modern science denies them all, simply because there is no credible empirical evidence for any of them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Wilber", "slug": "ken-wilber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber" }, "book": { "title": "The Marriage of Sense and Soul", "slug": "the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#The_Marriage_of_Sense_and_Soul_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:06" }, { "id": "b6999fbc-eba5-461e-b73b-c891b76ea003", "slug": "there-is-arguably", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul/there-is-arguably", "text": "There is arguably no more important and pressing topic than the relation of science and religion in the modern world. Science is clearly one of the most profound methods that humans have yet devised for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning. Truth and meaning, science and religion; but we still cannot figure out how to get the two of them together in a fashion that both find acceptable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Wilber", "slug": "ken-wilber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber" }, "book": { "title": "The Marriage of Sense and Soul", "slug": "the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#The_Marriage_of_Sense_and_Soul_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:06" }, { "id": "180163f2-724b-468d-9541-4b521df3d25e", "slug": "this-is-a-massive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul/this-is-a-massive", "text": "This is a massive and violent schism and rupture in the internal organs of today's global culture and this is exactly why many social analysts believe that if some sort of reconciliation between science and religion is not forthcoming, the future of humanity is, at best, precarious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Wilber", "slug": "ken-wilber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber" }, "book": { "title": "The Marriage of Sense and Soul", "slug": "the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-marriage-of-sense-and-soul" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#The_Marriage_of_Sense_and_Soul_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:06" }, { "id": "6dbcd0af-d097-4bad-b46f-a8da6db817a7", "slug": "religion-and-art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/willa-cather-on-writing/religion-and-art", "text": "Religion and art spring from the same root and are close kin. Economics and art are strangers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "Willa Cather On Writing", "slug": "willa-cather-on-writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/willa-cather-on-writing" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#Willa_Cather_on_Writing_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:05" }, { "id": "ca7deee0-64c9-4d2d-b67c-68c430b747e3", "slug": "art-and-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house/art-and-religion", "text": "Art and religion (they are the same thing, in the end, of course) have given man the only happiness he has ever had.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "The Professor's House", "slug": "the-professors-house", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#The_Professor's_House_(1925)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "66cf0725-14de-4d9d-82ab-7b96be9e1149", "slug": "in-other-searchings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-mortal-enemy/in-other-searchings", "text": "In other searchings it might be the object of the quest that brought satisfaction, or it might be something incidental that one got on the way; but in religion, desire was fulfilment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "My Mortal Enemy", "slug": "my-mortal-enemy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-mortal-enemy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#My_Mortal_Enemy_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "5c8c2521-4056-40a6-a00b-4bf958e7d1fc", "slug": "religion-is-different", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-mortal-enemy/religion-is-different", "text": "Religion is different from everything else; because in religion seeking is finding.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "My Mortal Enemy", "slug": "my-mortal-enemy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-mortal-enemy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#My_Mortal_Enemy_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "286f8bfa-6a61-4337-a779-d05a962d6ef0", "slug": "the-image-a-society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques/the-image-a-society", "text": "The image a society evolves of the relationship between the living and the dead is, in the final analysis, an attempt, on the level of religious thought, to conceal, embellish or justify the actual relationships which prevail among the living.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Claude Lévi-Strauss", "slug": "claude-levi-strauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss" }, "book": { "title": "Tristes Tropiques", "slug": "tristes-tropiques", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 246, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss#Tristes_Tropiques_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:57" }, { "id": "64786113-51bd-4475-b86d-137f90b2617d", "slug": "the-human-race", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-journals-of-ayn-rand/the-human-race", "text": "The human race has only two unlimited capacities: one for suffering and one for lying. I want to fight religion as the root of all human lying and the only excuse for human suffering.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Journals of Ayn Rand", "slug": "the-journals-of-ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-journals-of-ayn-rand" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Journals_of_Ayn_Rand_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:54" }, { "id": "fd7be7b2-9a8d-4cd9-b6f1-ef8ec41cc796", "slug": "everywhere-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion/everywhere-in-the", "text": "Everywhere in the world people were expecting the latter coming of one or another kickshaw messiah who would remove the discomforts which they themselves were either too lazy or too incompetent to deal with; and nobody had anything whatever to gain with electing for peculiarity among one's fellow creatures and a gloomier outlook.\n\nEven Coth saw that.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Silver Stallion", "slug": "the-silver-stallion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" }, { "name": "laziness", "slug": "laziness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/laziness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Silver_Stallion_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:50" }, { "id": "cb815a40-cf0f-49a5-8e98-ceb0c9fa3f80", "slug": "i-consider-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion/i-consider-the", "text": "I consider the saga of no lord of the Silver Stallion to be worth squabbling over. Your sagas in the end must all be perverted and engulfed by the great legend about Manuel. No matter how you strive against that legend, it will conquer: no matter what you may do or suffer, my doomed Guivric, your saga will be recast until it conforms in everything to the legend begotten by the terrified imaginings of a lost child. For men dare not face the universe with no better backing than their own resources; all men that live, and that go perforce about this world like blundering lost children whose rescuer is not yet in sight, have a vital need to believe in this sustaining legend about the Redeemer: and the wickedness and the foolishness of no man can avail against the fond optimism of mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Silver Stallion", "slug": "the-silver-stallion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" }, { "name": "mythology", "slug": "mythology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Silver_Stallion_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:50" }, { "id": "53e0aff8-0b77-4eaf-80fd-2e0be0c1a485", "slug": "in-religious-matters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion/in-religious-matters", "text": "In religious matters a traveller loses nothing by civility.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Silver Stallion", "slug": "the-silver-stallion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-silver-stallion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Silver_Stallion_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:50" }, { "id": "d530b1dc-b937-4f46-8e2b-0b178b4d8c8e", "slug": "to-day-alone-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest/to-day-alone-was", "text": "To-day alone was real. Never was man brought into contact with reality save through the evanescent emotions and sensations of that single moment, that infinitesimal fraction of a second, which was passing now — and it was in the insignificance of this moment, precisely, that religious persons must believe. So ran the teachings of all dead and lingering faiths alike. Here was, perhaps, only another instance of mankind's abhorrence of actualities; and man's quaint dislike of facing reality was here disguised as a high moral principle. That was why all art, which strove to make the sensations of a moment soul-satisfying, was dimly felt to be irreligious. For art performed what religion only promised.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Cream of the Jest", "slug": "the-cream-of-the-jest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "the present moment", "slug": "the-present-moment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present-moment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Cream_of_the_Jest_(1917)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:49" }, { "id": "99ef3835-a8e2-4109-a770-07d03f1f4361", "slug": "religion-of-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest/religion-of-course", "text": "Religion, of course, assured him that the answer to his query was, in various books, explicitly written, in very dissimilar forms. But Kennaston could find little to attract him in any theory of the universe based upon direct revelations from heaven. Conceding that divinity had actually stated so-and-so, from Sinai or Delphi or Mecca, and had been reported without miscomprehension or error, there was no particular reason for presuming that divinity had spoken veraciously: and, indeed all a available analogues went to show that nothing in nature dealt with its inferiors candidly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Cream of the Jest", "slug": "the-cream-of-the-jest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Cream_of_the_Jest_(1917)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:49" }, { "id": "34ea7203-e51e-4e90-a541-45d81e39d135", "slug": "in-the-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/in-the-first", "text": "In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, that poor bastard.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J.D. Salinger", "slug": "jd-salinger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger" }, "book": { "title": "The Catcher in the Rye", "slug": "the-catcher-in-the-rye", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_14", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "af3e027d-119b-476e-977d-d9baee7e2043", "slug": "the-effectiveness-of-political", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/the-effectiveness-of-political", "text": "The effectiveness of political and religious propaganda depends upon the methods employed, not upon the doctrines taught. These doctrines may be true or false, wholesome or pernicious—it makes little or no difference.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "9651c8db-adeb-40e9-a58c-ad90a72a493c", "slug": "most-kings-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/most-kings-and", "text": "Most kings and priests have been despotic, and all religions have been riddled with superstition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 52, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "47bf1199-ddcb-4f4f-ba6d-ff3e2dd80c43", "slug": "all-gods-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/island/all-gods-are", "text": "All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Island", "slug": "island", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/island" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Island_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "458c8892-54a6-4a1b-9f43-f65b8e170331", "slug": "all-the-advantages", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/all-the-advantages", "text": "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World", "slug": "brave-new-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "alcohol", "slug": "alcohol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/alcohol" }, { "name": "drugs", "slug": "drugs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/drugs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:34" }, { "id": "4237ba66-c6ad-4dc9-b521-97481c320b14", "slug": "there-were-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/there-were-most", "text": "There were most questions, mostly silly, confirming an opinion I had kept to myself for years: Piety does not imply horse sense.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "slug": "job-a-comedy-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 330, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:20" }, { "id": "0dfbcf5a-1499-4525-91a0-ae8ae121ec9b", "slug": "alec-do-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/alec-do-you", "text": "Alec, do you believe in your heart that your God caused bears to tear up little children merely because they made fun of an old man's bald head?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "slug": "job-a-comedy-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 139, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:20" }, { "id": "9acd2397-a081-445c-b303-a593ac5042cc", "slug": "i-regard-monotheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/at-home/i-regard-monotheism", "text": "I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam — good people, yes, but any religion based on a single... well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system that has worked pretty well for twenty-five hundred years. So you see I am ecumenical in my dislike for the Book. But like it or not, the Book is there; and because of it people die; and the world is in danger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "At Home", "slug": "at-home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/at-home" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#At_Home_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:19" }, { "id": "2040659d-066a-4c91-8226-2bfc0e20d902", "slug": "if-christianity-is-wine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen/if-christianity-is-wine", "text": "If Christianity is wine and Islam coffee, Buddhism is most certainly tea.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alan W. Watts", "slug": "alan-w-watts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Zen", "slug": "the-way-of-zen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 190, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "Buddhism", "slug": "buddhism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Watts#The_Way_of_Zen_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:12" }, { "id": "77bd7147-c41c-4677-9a18-28ce3dd6ccbc", "slug": "the-church-of-my-choice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said/the-church-of-my-choice", "text": "The church of my choice is the free, open world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said", "slug": "flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 124, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Flow_My_Tears,_The_Policeman_Said_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:06" }, { "id": "9567fede-b31e-41b3-ab99-036da32463e1", "slug": "the-remark-which", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-pleasure-of-finding-things-out/the-remark-which", "text": "The remark which I read somewhere, that science is all right as long as it doesn't attack religion, was the clue I needed to understand the problem. As long as it doesn't attack religion it need not be paid attention to and nobody has to learn anything. So it can be cut off from society except for its applications, and thus be isolated. And then we have this terrible struggle to try to explain things to people who have no reason to want to know. But if they want to defend their own point of view, they will have to learn what yours is a little bit. So I suggest, maybe correctly and perhaps wrongly, that we are too polite.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out", "slug": "the-pleasure-of-finding-things-out", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-pleasure-of-finding-things-out" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#The_Pleasure_of_Finding_Things_Out_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:01" }, { "id": "2e92bb68-cbf6-4155-9831-b96181a472d3", "slug": "that-little-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sojourner-truth/aint-i-a-woman/that-little-man", "text": "That little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Jesus Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sojourner Truth", "slug": "sojourner-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sojourner-truth" }, "book": { "title": "Ain't I A Woman?", "slug": "aint-i-a-woman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sojourner-truth/aint-i-a-woman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "women's equal rights", "slug": "womens-equal-rights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/womens-equal-rights" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth#Ain't_I_a_Woman%3F_Speech_(1851)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:58" }, { "id": "217305e2-7376-4e7d-a0de-a685c8744fae", "slug": "enter-no-conflict", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune/enter-no-conflict", "text": "Enter no conflict against fanatics unless you can defuse them. Oppose a religion with another religion only if your proofs (miracles) are irrefutable or if you can mesh in a way that the fanatics accept you as god-inspired.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Chapterhouse: Dune", "slug": "chapterhouse-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Chapterhouse:_Dune_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:55" }, { "id": "d8ef4f07-016d-4208-ae40-6493a1b81d4b", "slug": "you-could-drag", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/heretics-of-dune/you-could-drag", "text": "You could drag humankind almost anywhere by manipulating the enormous energies of procreation. You could goad humans into actions they would never have believed possible. ...This energy must have an outlet. Bottle it up and it becomes monstrously dangerous. Redirect it and it will sweep over anything in its path. This is an ultimate secret of all religions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics of Dune", "slug": "heretics-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/heretics-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Heretics_of_Dune_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:54" }, { "id": "a14c0f45-4258-4805-a718-8d806141de01", "slug": "is-your-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/is-your-religion", "text": "Is your religion real when it costs you nothing and carries no risk? Is your religion real when you fatten upon it? Is your religion real when you commit atrocities in its name? Whence comes your downward degeneration from the original revelation?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:52" }, { "id": "61618ce9-5635-4456-b054-ca0a4d750310", "slug": "religion-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/religion-is-the", "text": "Religion is the emulation of the adult by the child. Religion is the encystment of past beliefs: mythology, which is guesswork, the assumptions of trust in the universe, those pronouncements which men have made in search of personal power, all of it mingled with shreds of enlightenment. And always the ultimate unspoken commandment is \"Thou shall not question!\" But we question. We break that commandment as a matter of course. The work to which we have set ourselves is the liberating of the imagination, the harnessing of imagination to humankind's deepest sense of creativity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:52" }, { "id": "55ea95e4-8d4a-4055-9b21-317b793f01df", "slug": "i-will-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/i-will-not", "text": "I will not argue with the Fremen claims that they are divinely inspired to transmit a religious revelation. It is their concurrent claim to ideological revelation which inspires me to shower them with derision. Of course, they make the dual claim in the hope that it will strengthen their mandarinate and help them to endure in a universe which finds them increasingly oppressive. It is in the name of all those oppressed people that I warn the Fremen: short-term expediency always fails in the long-term.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:52" }, { "id": "f1f4f904-64bf-4b9d-9ab4-08ed6328cbd7", "slug": "rulers-are-notoriously", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/rulers-are-notoriously", "text": "“’Rulers are notoriously cynical where religions are concerned. Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?’”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "924eab39-9e11-4f75-b1e6-a2e8e07dfe37", "slug": "government-cannot-be-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/government-cannot-be-religious", "text": "“’Government cannot be religious and self-assertive at the same time. Religious experience needs a spontaneity which laws inevitably suppress. And you cannot govern without laws. Your laws eventually must replace morality, replace conscience, replace even the religion by which you think to govern. Sacred ritual must spring from praise and holy yearnings which hammer out a significant morality. Government, on the other hand, is a cultural organism particularly attractive to doubts, questions and contentions. I see the day coming when ceremony must take the place of faith and symbolism replaces morality.’”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "8e644672-9ec4-419f-805e-7b67f1f21aff", "slug": "unfortunately-some-wars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/unfortunately-some-wars", "text": "Unfortunately, some wars are won by the side that is the most fanatical in a religious sense. The victorious leaders harness the holy energy of collective insanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune:_The_Machine_Crusade_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:50" }, { "id": "e4828d63-c766-4897-ab8b-2a6a72ecfed7", "slug": "when-law-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/when-law-and", "text": "When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Book_3:_The_Prophet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "9060d989-1f55-4078-a7b4-57eaa1076acf", "slug": "we-shouldnt-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/we-shouldnt-have", "text": "“We shouldn’t have tried to create new symbols,” he said. We should've realized we weren't supposed to introduce uncertainties into accepted belief, that we weren't supposed to stir up curiosity about God. We are daily confronted by the terrifying instability of all things human, yet we permit our religions to grow more rigid and controlled, more conforming and oppressive. What is this shadow across the highway of Divine Command? It is a warning that institutions endure, that symbols endure when their meaning is lost, that there is no summa of all attainable knowledge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Appendices", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "8e7d6e4b-2c69-4bb8-80ec-acbe69ed544b", "slug": "religion-must-remain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/religion-must-remain", "text": "Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, \"I am not the kind of person I want to be.\" It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Appendices", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "83f30674-76a7-4231-8f22-c42ef5904f85", "slug": "when-law-and-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/when-law-and-religious", "text": "When law and religious duty are one, your selfdom encloses the Universe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Appendices", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "3ef74412-a841-477f-aeff-7be74edd7736", "slug": "men-finding-no-answers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/men-finding-no-answers", "text": "Men, finding no answers to the sunnah [the ten thousand religious questions from the Shari-ah] now apply their own reasoning. All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is the task of Religion to fit man into this lawfulness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Appendices", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "35122e9b-8135-486c-9f09-e9bc6d679487", "slug": "when-religion-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/when-religion-and", "text": "When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong – faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thought of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Book_3:_The_Prophet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "0370d867-41fe-4738-963d-ca07145063f1", "slug": "you-cannot-avoid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/you-cannot-avoid", "text": "You cannot avoid the interplay of politics within an orthodox religion. This power struggle permeates the training, educating and disciplining of the orthodox community. Because of this pressure, the leaders of such a community inevitably must face that ultimate internal question: to succumb to complete opportunism as the price of maintaining their rule, or risk sacrificing themselves for the sake of the orthodox ethic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Book_3:_The_Prophet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "01713114-6e09-4ff8-bf81-dad2104a82ad", "slug": "much-that-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/much-that-was", "text": "Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "joy", "slug": "joy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/joy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Appendices", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "cac0fce2-eb12-4b97-b169-b54b70977b99", "slug": "a-poor-portrayal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/a-poor-portrayal", "text": "\"A poor portrayal is about as effective as a good one for most people. They don't see the defects; they see a symbol which inspires their deepest emotions; it recalls to them the Agony and Sacrifice of God.\"\n\n\"Jubal, I thought you weren't a Christian?\"\n\n\"Does that make me blind to human emotion? I was saying that the crummiest painted plaster crucifix can evoke emotions in the human heart so strong that many have died for them. The artistry with which such a symbol is wrought is irrelevant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Part_Four_:_His_Scandalous_Career", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:43" }, { "id": "8df6b484-2e48-4ca4-ba25-936cd50c90c0", "slug": "religion-is-a-solace-to", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/religion-is-a-solace-to", "text": "Religion is a solace to many people and it is even conceivable that some religion, somewhere, really is Ultimate Truth. But in many cases, being religious is merely a form of conceit. The Bible Belt faith in which I was brought up encouraged me to think that I was better than the rest of the world; I was 'saved' and they were 'damned' — we were in a state of grace and the rest of the world were 'heathens' and by 'heathen' they meant such people as our brother Mahmoud. It meant that an ignorant, stupid lout who seldom bathed and planted his corn by the phase of the Moon could claim to know the final answers of the Universe. That entitled him to look down his nose at everybody else. Our hymn book was loaded with such arrogance — mindless, conceited, self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us and us alone, and what hell everybody else was going to catch come Judgment Day.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Part_Three_:_His_Eccentric_Education", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:43" }, { "id": "dd640f25-01b7-47df-891b-e66b34fb7226", "slug": "thought-he-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/thought-he-its", "text": "Thought he, it's a wicked world in all meridians; I'll die a pagan.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 62, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#Biographical_(12)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "cb641468-572e-4814-85da-85340667cc26", "slug": "the-pulpit-is-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/the-pulpit-is-ever", "text": "The pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favorable winds. Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Pulpit_(8)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "8edceca8-3b15-4bb6-bf97-3457dc28034f", "slug": "i-have-no-objection", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/i-have-no-objection", "text": "I have no objection to any person's religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don't believe it also. But when a man's religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the point with him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 95, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Ramadan_(17)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "6fafa913-9c6f-4fb3-a6db-00d7eeb4cd52", "slug": "i-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/i-do-not", "text": "I do not think that my remarks about religion made much impression upon Queequeg. Because, in the first place, he somehow seemed dull of hearing on that important subject, unless considered from his own point of view; and, in the second place, he did not more than one third understand me, couch my ideas simply as I would; and, finally, he no doubt thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did. He looked at me with a sort of condescending concern and compassion, as though he thought it a great pity that such a sensible young man should be so hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan piety.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 97, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Ramadan_(17)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "f85c0a48-b656-4dc4-97db-f7329a0526a5", "slug": "if-it-be-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/if-it-be-of-the", "text": "If it be of the highest importance to man, as an individual, that his religion should be true, the case of society is not the same. Society has no future life to hope for or to fear; and provided the citizens profess a religion, the peculiar tenets of that religion are of very little importance to its interests.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "e52625dd-3c7f-40a2-9076-1988b485aff4", "slug": "muhammad-brought-down", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/muhammad-brought-down", "text": "Muhammad brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not religious doctrines only, but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and scientific theories. The Gospels, on the other hand, deal only with the general relations between man and God and between man and man. Beyond that, they teach nothing and do not oblige people to believe anything. That alone, among a thousand reasons, is enough to show that Islam will not be able to hold its power long in ages of enlightenment and democracy, while Christianity is destined to reign in such ages, as in all others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "Christianity", "slug": "christianity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/christianity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "b76f589c-a829-477b-a186-ead5db6ccee7", "slug": "they-all-attributed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/they-all-attributed", "text": "They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "75aeedeb-9937-4ef8-80a0-dc9e7ec2170f", "slug": "the-main-business", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-main-business", "text": "The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "d8b1566f-e32e-415e-81cb-dc5decdf15f2", "slug": "religion-isnt-invented", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/religion-isnt-invented", "text": "Religion isn't invented by man. Men are invented by religion. Men invent responses to Quality, and among these responses is an understanding of what they themselves are. You know something and then the Quality stimulus hits and then you try to define the Quality stimulus, but to define it all you've got to work with is what you know. So your definition is made up of what you know. It's an analogue to what you already know. It has to be. It can't be anything else. And the mythos grows this way. By analogies to what is known before. The mythos is a building of analogues upon analogues upon analogues. These fill the collective consciousness of all communicating mankind. Every last bit of it. The Quality is the track that directs the train. What is outside the train, to either side—that is the terra incognita of the insane. He knew that to understand Quality he would have to leave the mythos. That's why he felt that slippage. He knew something was about to happen.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "quality", "slug": "quality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/quality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "f187949d-7572-4dae-a023-2d6317249e01", "slug": "lets-say-theres", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/lets-say-theres", "text": "Let's say there's a molecule that produces a religious experience... a natural molecule that the body produces whose function it is to produce religious experiences, at least on occasion? ...So let's call it \"theophorin\"...What could the selective advantage of theophorin be? ...to suit us for the quest that was, according to Dostoyevsky, to strive for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship and obey.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" }, { "name": "the brain", "slug": "the-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-brain" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "9dc942db-027b-4cad-b954-143a2ddc19e9", "slug": "there-is-no-question", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/there-is-no-question", "text": "There is no question that religions have historically played the role of making people contented with their lot. ...such a doctrine would be very appealing to the ruling classes of a society. ...Many societies, for this reason alone, encourage the contentment with your lot that the religious premise of heaven affords.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "2a84a523-e31d-4ea3-8430-5ddc853ceded", "slug": "many-religions-lay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/many-religions-lay", "text": "Many religions lay out a set of precepts... and claim that these instructions were given by a god or gods. For example, the first code of law by Hammurabi of Babylon... was handed to him by the god Marduk... this is a bamboozle... a pious hoax. ...if Hammurabi had merely said, \"Here's what I think everybody should do,\" he would have been much less successful...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "deception", "slug": "deception", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/deception" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "db7874ab-2a70-45a1-9307-b02767617584", "slug": "this-vast-number", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/this-vast-number", "text": "This vast number of worlds, the enormous scale of the universe... has not been taken into account, even superficially, in virtually no religion, and especially in no Western religions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "d39a9a40-92f0-496f-8e81-7c8477833a93", "slug": "many-religions-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/many-religions-have", "text": "Many religions have attempted to make statues of their gods very large, and the idea, I suppose, is to make us feel small. But if that's their purpose, they can keep their paltry icons. We need only look up if we wish to feel small.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "ad3728b7-d965-4794-b504-b0a7e509297d", "slug": "think-of-how", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/think-of-how", "text": "Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Demon-Haunted World", "slug": "the-demon-haunted-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 30, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Demon-Haunted_World_:_Science_as_a_Candle_in_the_Dark_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "59327671-55ab-4b09-88b8-e85c7861a830", "slug": "the-enterprise-of-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/the-enterprise-of-knowledge", "text": "The enterprise of knowledge is consistent surely with science; it should be with religion, and it is essential for the welfare of the human species.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "1e7267d9-0606-4747-b4e7-b61b34623d89", "slug": "science-is-at-least", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/science-is-at-least", "text": "Science is, at least in part, informed worship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "dd3716f1-1cc6-4e5a-8585-fdd7079533fa", "slug": "the-major-religions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact/the-major-religions", "text": "The major religions on the Earth contradict each other left and right. You can't all be correct. And what if all of you are wrong? It's a possibility, you know. You must care about the truth, right? Well, the way to winnow through all the differing contentions is to be skeptical. I'm not any more skeptical about your religious beliefs than I am about every new scientific idea I hear about. But in my line of work, they're called hypotheses, not inspiration and not revelation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Contact", "slug": "contact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 162, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "skepticism", "slug": "skepticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/skepticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Contact_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "964970c6-5ca4-4332-8d7c-30719d5d42dc", "slug": "you-see-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact/you-see-the", "text": "You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an experiment. That's what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen's wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can't say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can't the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn't want Lot's wife to look back, why didn't he make her obedient, so she'd do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn't made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would've listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn't he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why's he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there's one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design, he's not good at execution. He'd be out of business if there was any competition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Contact", "slug": "contact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 285, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Contact_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "714b65d0-a0b2-49ef-9caa-4e1c23612553", "slug": "what-im-saying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact/what-im-saying", "text": "What I'm saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Contact", "slug": "contact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 164, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Contact_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "5f0416b3-5e78-41da-9e73-020a27913c3c", "slug": "weve-tended-in-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot/weve-tended-in-our", "text": "We've tended in our cosmologies to make things familiar. Despite all our best efforts, we've not been very inventive. In the West, Heaven is placid and fluffy, and Hell is like the inside of a volcano. In many stories, both realms are governed by dominance hierarchies headed by gods or devils. Monotheists talked about the king of kings. In every culture we imagined something like our own political system running the Universe. Few found the similarity suspicious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Pale Blue Dot", "slug": "pale-blue-dot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 46, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Pale_Blue_Dot:_A_Vision_of_the_Human_Future_in_Space_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "42bbf3d4-67e0-48f8-978a-75c4982f3d7b", "slug": "it-took-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot/it-took-the", "text": "It took the Church until 1832 to remove Galileo's work from its list of books which Catholics were forbidden to read at the risk of dire punishment of their immortal souls.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Pale Blue Dot", "slug": "pale-blue-dot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Pale_Blue_Dot:_A_Vision_of_the_Human_Future_in_Space_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "2d173d65-1756-44a1-a018-aed459dd8243", "slug": "in-some-respects", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot/in-some-respects", "text": "In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, \"This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed\"? Instead they say, \"No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Pale Blue Dot", "slug": "pale-blue-dot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 50, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Pale_Blue_Dot:_A_Vision_of_the_Human_Future_in_Space_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "fc63ab3d-a05d-4142-8aa0-a03f246efad7", "slug": "i-have-a-terrible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/i-have-a-terrible", "text": "I have...a terrible need...shall I say the word?...of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 217, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "stars", "slug": "stars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stars" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "fa5cb1ee-6c3f-48db-a23b-fd4824c90ec9", "slug": "for-a-long", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/for-a-long", "text": "For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 173, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "curiosity", "slug": "curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/curiosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "7f123834-40c6-42ff-9a73-af189dfc3714", "slug": "they-i-e-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/they-i-e-the", "text": "They (i. e., the Pythagoreans) did not advocate the free confrontation of conflicting points of view. Instead, like all orthodox religions, they practised a rigidity that prevented them from correcting their errors.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 184, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "6cf8cdd4-ce0f-4137-8f3b-a093054262e3", "slug": "the-hindu-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/the-hindu-religion", "text": "The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the cosmos itself undergoes an immense and indeed an infinite number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond […] to those of modern scientific cosmology.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "f3030026-536c-4b8a-a781-ccdbef2eca45", "slug": "a-clear-prediction", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/a-clear-prediction", "text": "A clear prediction in an area undergoing vigorous study permits doctrines to be subject to disproof. The last posture a bureaucratic religion wishes to find itself in is vulnerability to disproof, where an experiment can be performed on which the religion stands or falls.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 332, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evidence", "slug": "evidence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evidence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "d1a09b0c-0c67-4277-8523-ed70090cb1ae", "slug": "but-there-is-a-chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/but-there-is-a-chance", "text": "But there is a chance that the answers will discomfit a great many bureaucratic and doctrinal religions. The idea of religion as a body of belief, immune to criticism, fixed forever by some founder is, I think, a prescription for the long-term decay of the religion, especially lately.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 338, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "bb5df11d-eda8-459b-9104-d265f43da83b", "slug": "the-first-amendment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/the-first-amendment", "text": "The First Amendment to the United States Constitution encourages a diversity of religions but does not prohibit criticism of religion. In fact it protects and encourages criticism of religion. Religions ought to be subject to at least the same degree of skepticism as, for example, contentions about UFO visitations or Velikovskian catastrophism. I think it is healthy for the religions themselves to foster skepticism about the fundamental underpinnings of their evidential bases. There is no question that religion provides a solace and support, a bulwark in time of emotional need, and can serve extremely useful social roles. But it by no means follows that religion should be immune from testing, from critical scrutiny, from skepticism. It is striking how little skeptical discussion of religion there is in the nation that Tom Paine, the author of The Age of Reason, helped to found. I hold that belief systems that cannot survive scrutiny are probably not worth having.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 338, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" }, { "name": "skepticism", "slug": "skepticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/skepticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "7e4953c1-410b-4e76-ad56-7894779f5219", "slug": "it-is-astonishing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/it-is-astonishing", "text": "It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 332, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "617afe33-ea3e-49e8-af14-c2a0132815af", "slug": "proponents-of-doctrinal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/proponents-of-doctrinal", "text": "Proponents of doctrinal religions—ones in which a particular body of belief is prized and infidels scorned—will be threatened by the courageous pursuit of knowledge. We hear from such people that it may be dangerous to probe too deeply. Many people have inherited their religion like their eye color: they consider it not a thing to think very deeply about, and in any case beyond our control. But those with a set of beliefs they profess to feel deeply about, which they have selected without an unbiased sifting through the facts and the alternatives, will feel uncomfortably challenged by searching questions. Anger at queries about our beliefs is the body's warning signal: here lies unexamined and probably dangerous doctrinal baggage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 339, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "anger", "slug": "anger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "1f10869a-09d1-43cc-9e8c-9bdff8047ad1", "slug": "both-borderline-science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/both-borderline-science", "text": "Both borderline science and many religions are motivated in part by a serious concern about the nature of the universe and our role in it, and for this reason merit our consideration and regard. In addition, I think it possible that many religions involve at their cores an attempt to come to grips with profound mysteries of our individual life histories, as described in the last chapter. But both in borderline science and in organized religion there is much that is specious or dangerous. While the practitioners of such doctrines often wish there were no criticisms to which they are expected to reply, skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "skepticism", "slug": "skepticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/skepticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "b87c0dce-593e-4927-b79b-6b1d7d6dad69", "slug": "fathers-and-teachers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/fathers-and-teachers", "text": "Fathers and teachers, what is the monk? In the cultivated world the word is nowadays pronounced by some people with a jeer, and by others it is used as a term of abuse, and this contempt for the monk is growing. It is true, alas, it is true, that there are many sluggards, gluttons, profligates and insolent beggars among monks. Educated people point to these: “You are idlers, useless members of society, you live on the labor of others, you are shameless beggars.” And yet how many meek and humble monks there are, yearning for solitude and fervent prayer in peace! These are less noticed, or passed over in silence. And how surprised men would be if I were to say that from these meek monks, who yearn for solitary prayer, the salvation of Russia will come perhaps once more! For they are in truth made ready in peace and quiet “for the day and the hour, the month and the year.” Meanwhile, in their solitude, they keep the image of Christ fair and undefiled, in the purity of God's truth, from the times of the Fathers of old, the Apostles and the martyrs. And when the time comes they will show it to the tottering creeds of the world. That is a great thought. That star will rise out of the East.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Brothers Karamazov", "slug": "the-brothers-karamazov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "Russia", "slug": "russia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/russia" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Brothers_Karamazov_(1879%E2%80%931880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:24" }, { "id": "f0faa62f-3c70-456b-bf96-3caf4ea3984c", "slug": "there-are-those", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances/there-are-those", "text": "“There are those who think it’s devil worship,” said Oliver. “And I think they are wrong. But then, one man’s god is another’s devil. Eh?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances", "slug": "trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 323, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman#Trigger_Warning_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:15" }, { "id": "cd43da93-dd42-4246-aa1f-c8b6967d1370", "slug": "i-suppose-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances/i-suppose-you", "text": "“I suppose you must be looking forward to them sorting all this out,” he said. “Er. The Palestinian situation. The politics.”\n\nShe shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to Jerusalem,” she said. “The people come. The people believe. Then they kill each other, to prove that God loves them.”\n\n“Well,” he said. “How would you fix it?”\n\nShe smiled her whitest smile. “Sometimes,” she said, “I think it would be best if it was bombed. If it was bombed back to a radioactive desert. Then who would want it? But then I think, they would come here and collect the radioactive dust that might contain atoms of the Dome of the Rock, or of the Temple, or a wall that Christ leaned against on his way to the Cross. People would fight over who owns a poisonous desert, if that desert was Jerusalem.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances", "slug": "trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 160, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman#Trigger_Warning_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:15" }, { "id": "e3c26f7d-3436-4436-ac54-768435702968", "slug": "none-of-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/none-of-this", "text": "None of this can actually be happening. If it makes you more comfortable, you could simply think of it as metaphor. Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you — even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition.\n\nReligions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_18", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:10" }, { "id": "2e86938e-f185-4750-8764-f41062e107e7", "slug": "all-revelations-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/all-revelations-are", "text": "\"All revelations are personal.\" she said. \"That’s why all revelations are suspect.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_16", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:10" }, { "id": "043adce6-5e58-4c9f-9492-b47c54ab45b6", "slug": "so-yeah-jesus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/so-yeah-jesus", "text": "So yeah, Jesus does pretty good over here. But I met a guy who said he saw him hitchhiking by the side of the road in Afghanistan and nobody was stopping to give him a ride. You know? It all depends on where you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_8", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:09" }, { "id": "8843a829-8666-4ec7-b6e6-933959e2e107", "slug": "religion-stands-on-tip-toe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple/religion-stands-on-tip-toe", "text": "Religion stands on tip-toe in our land,\n\nReady to pass to the American strand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Herbert", "slug": "george-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Temple", "slug": "the-temple", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Herbert#The_Temple_(1633)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:01" }, { "id": "2e7a92e6-75a6-40eb-8697-1b137a232143", "slug": "a-verse-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple/a-verse-may", "text": "A verse may finde him,who a sermon flies\n\nAnd turns delight into a sacrifice.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Herbert", "slug": "george-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Temple", "slug": "the-temple", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Herbert#The_Temple_(1633)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:00" }, { "id": "65204799-0a48-48df-abf9-8aebd4e5c38b", "slug": "afyer-the-union", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/afyer-the-union", "text": "Afyer the union of philosophy with the popular religion, upon the first establishment of Christianity, nothing was more usual, among all religious teachers, than declarations against reason, against the senses, against every principle derived merely from human research and inquiry.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "99fdf179-84b4-4492-9e89-977630b3ffe4", "slug": "the-christian-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/the-christian-religion", "text": "The Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: and whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" }, { "name": "miracles", "slug": "miracles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/miracles" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "dc66a62e-cdad-409f-bef5-38c260460d5d", "slug": "how-is-it-i-wonder", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/the-way-of-all-flesh/how-is-it-i-wonder", "text": "How is it, I wonder, that all religious officials, from God the Father to the parish beadle, should be so arbitrary and exacting.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of All Flesh", "slug": "the-way-of-all-flesh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/the-way-of-all-flesh" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#The_Way_of_All_Flesh_(1903)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "7a42b3ee-6b31-4cd3-92d6-26ad42c3d1c4", "slug": "generally-speaking-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/generally-speaking-the", "text": "Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "1fe51b17-0823-49ea-b37c-f4ee8a0898a4", "slug": "as-the-days", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/the-way-of-all-flesh/as-the-days", "text": "As the days went slowly by he came to see that Christianity and the denial of Christianity after all met as much as any other extremes do; it was a fight about names — not about things; practically the Catholic Church|Church of Rome, the Church of England, and the freethinker have the same ideal standard and meet in the gentleman; for he is the most perfect saint who is the most perfect gentleman. Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of All Flesh", "slug": "the-way-of-all-flesh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/the-way-of-all-flesh" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#The_Way_of_All_Flesh_(1903)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "83c23917-5774-4780-aaec-31b4bb72c4de", "slug": "it-is-here", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/it-is-here", "text": "It is here that almost all religions go wrong. Their priests try to make us believe that they know more about the unseen world than those whose eyes are still blinded by the seen, can ever know--forgetting that while to deny the existence of an unseen kingdom is bad, to pretend that we know more about it than its bare existence is no better.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Erewhon", "slug": "erewhon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#Erewhon_(1872)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:53" }, { "id": "146eb97e-66ec-4a31-8c34-d10f575f3378", "slug": "as-a-matter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/as-a-matter", "text": "As a matter of course, the basis on which he decided that duty could alone rest was one that afforded no standing-room for many of the old-established habits of the people. These, he assured them, were all wrong, and whenever any one ventured to differ from him, he referred the matter to the unseen power with which he alone was in direct communication, and the unseen power invariably assured him that he was right.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Erewhon", "slug": "erewhon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#Erewhon_(1872)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:53" }, { "id": "6b0b7b81-07c9-463e-965e-a3637733a7d5", "slug": "the-farther-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/the-farther-men", "text": "The farther men get from God, the farther they advance into the knowledge of religions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:42" }, { "id": "7d0fc1ae-bd99-42ba-8cb8-385e61e1c9c7", "slug": "even-when-he-turns", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/even-when-he-turns", "text": "Even when he turns from religion, man remains subject to it; depleting himself to create false gods, he then feverishly adopts them; his need for fiction, for mythology triumphs over evidence and absurdity alike.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "mythology", "slug": "mythology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:40" }, { "id": "d546e09f-665f-4c57-9cc2-2a605fc83068", "slug": "keep-your-children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/keep-your-children", "text": "Keep your children ever within the little circle of dogmas which are related to morality. Convince them that the only useful learning is that which teaches us to act rightly. Do not make your daughters theologians and casuists; only teach them such things of heaven as conduce to human goodness; train them to feel that they are always in the presence of God, who sees their thoughts and deeds, their virtue and their pleasures; teach them to do good without ostentation and because they love it, to suffer evil without a murmur, because God will reward them; in a word to be all their life long what they will be glad to have been when they appear in His presence. This is true religion; this alone is incapable of abuse, impiety, or fanaticism. Let those who will, teach a religion more sublime, but this is the only religion I know.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:37" }, { "id": "ba714cb7-0c73-47dd-b59e-14a76a308e5e", "slug": "i-fear-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-fear-that", "text": "I fear that these little saints who have been forced to spend their childhood in prayers to God will pass their youth in another fashion; when they are married they will try to make up for lost time. I think we must consider age as well as sex; a young girl should not live like her grandmother; she should be lively, merry, and eager; she should sing and dance to her heart's content, and enjoy all the innocent pleasures of youth; the time will come, all too soon, when she must settle down and adopt a more serious tone.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:37" }, { "id": "cd8890bb-672d-42f7-ab24-9b7ec315c221", "slug": "it-would-be-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/it-would-be-better", "text": "It would be better to have no idea at all of the Divinity than to have mean, grotesque, harmful, and unworthy ideas; to fail to perceive the Divine is a lesser evil than to insult it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "bd62c5a3-b040-4bb3-a965-03cfc1e80d81", "slug": "having-reached-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/having-reached-this", "text": "Having reached this stage, and by this road, he is quite ready to enter upon the next stage to which I introduce him; the subjects I suggest for his consideration rouse his curiosity, because they are fine in themselves, because they are quite new to him, and because he is able to understand them. Your young people, on the other hand, are weary and overdone with your stupid lessons, your long sermons, and your tedious catechisms; why should they not refuse to devote their minds to what has made them sad, to the burdensome precepts which have been continually piled upon them, to the thought of the Author of their being, who has been represented as the enemy of their pleasures? All this has only inspired in them aversion, disgust, and weariness; constraint has set them against it; why then should they devote themselves to it when they are beginning to choose for themselves? They require novelty, you must not repeat what they learned as children. Just so with my own pupil, when he is a man I speak to him as a man, and only tell him what is new to him; it is just because they are tedious to your pupils that he will find them to his taste.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "boredom", "slug": "boredom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boredom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "a7890950-27b4-4eaa-a9ab-b5fe4ccc19a9", "slug": "do-not-let", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/do-not-let", "text": "Do not let us confuse the outward forms of religion with religion itself. The service God requires is of the heart; and when the heart is sincere that is ever the same. It is a strange sort of conceit which fancies that God takes such an interest in the shape of the priest's vestments, the form of words he utters, the gestures he makes before the altar and all his genuflections. Oh, my friend, stand upright, you will still be too near the earth. God desires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; this duty belongs to every religion, every country, every individual.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "honesty", "slug": "honesty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "6d4a419b-01c6-4dce-b2c0-9b05b15ca21c", "slug": "in-my-exposition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/in-my-exposition", "text": "\"In my exposition you find nothing but natural religion; strange that we should need more! How shall I become aware of this need? What guilt can be mine so long as I serve God according to the knowledge he has given to my mind, and the feelings he has put into my heart? What purity of morals, what dogma useful to man and worthy of its author, can I derive from a positive doctrine which cannot be derived without the aid of this doctrine by the right use of my faculties? Show me what you can add to the duties of the natural law, for the glory of God, for the good of mankind, and for my own welfare; and what virtue you will get from the new form of religion which does not result from mine. The grandest ideas of the Divine nature come to us from reason only. Behold the spectacle of nature; listen to the inner voice. Has not God spoken it all to our eyes, to our conscience, to our reason? What more can man tell us?\n\nTheir revelations do but degrade God, by investing him with passions like our own. Far from throwing light upon the ideas of the Supreme Being, special doctrines seem to me to confuse these ideas; far from ennobling them, they degrade them; to the inconceivable mysteries which surround the Almighty, they add absurd contradictions, they make man proud, intolerant, and cruel; instead of bringing peace upon earth, they bring fire and sword. I ask myself what is the use of it all, and I find no answer. I see nothing but the crimes of men and the misery of mankind.\n\nAs soon as the nations took to making God speak, every one made him speak in his own fashion, and made him say what he himself wanted. Had they listened only to what God says in the heart of man, there would have been but one religion upon earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "5fa3b57e-e93c-48cd-a510-a7520a037eb9", "slug": "thus-the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/thus-the-universe", "text": "Thus the universe was peopled with gods like themselves. The stars, the winds and the mountains, rivers, trees, and towns, their very dwellings, each had its soul, its god, its life. The teraphim of Laban, the manitos of savages, the fetishes of the negroes, every work of nature and of man, were the first gods of mortals; polytheism was their first religion and idolatry their earliest form of worship. The idea of one God was beyond their grasp, till little by little they formed general ideas, and they rose to the idea of a first cause and gave meaning to the word \"substance,\" which is at bottom the greatest of abstractions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "4bcf63e0-4667-4cd4-bcff-0d1159be36fb", "slug": "the-perception-of-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/the-perception-of-our", "text": "The perception of our action upon other bodies must have first induced us to suppose that their action upon us was effected in like manner. Thus man began by thinking that all things whose action affected him were alive. He did not recognise the limits of their powers, and he therefore supposed that they were boundless; as soon as he had supplied them with bodies they became his gods. In the earliest times men went in terror of everything and everything in nature seemed alive. The idea of matter was developed as slowly as that of spirit, for the former is itself an abstraction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "3379b658-0159-496b-a16c-c2d5e3145769", "slug": "i-am-aware", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-am-aware", "text": "I am aware that many of my readers will be surprised to find me tracing the course of my scholar through his early years without speaking to him of religion. At fifteen he will not even know that he has a soul, at eighteen even he may not be ready to learn about it. For if he learns about it too soon, there is the risk of his never really knowing anything about it. If I had to depict the most heart-breaking stupidity, I would paint a pedant teaching children the catechism; if I wanted to drive a child crazy I would set him to explain what he learned in his catechism. You will reply that as most of the Christian doctrines are mysteries, you must wait, not merely till the child is a man, but till the man is dead, before the human mind will understand those doctrines. To that I reply, that there are mysteries which the heart of man can neither conceive nor believe, and I see no use in teaching them to children, unless you want to make liars of them. Moreover, I assert that to admit that there are mysteries, you must at least realise that they are incomprehensible, and children are not even capable of this conception! At an age when everything is mysterious, there are no mysteries properly so-called. \"We must believe in God if we would be saved.\" This doctrine wrongly understood is the root of bloodthirsty intolerance and the cause of all the futile teaching which strikes a deadly blow at human reason by training it to cheat itself with mere words. No doubt there is not a moment to be lost if we would deserve eternal salvation; but if the repetition of certain words suffices to obtain it, I do not see why we should not people heaven with starlings and magpies as well as with children.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "613bd7f4-0e77-4e01-a20d-0c16550342ca", "slug": "as-a-mans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/as-a-mans", "text": "As a man's conduct is controlled by public fact, so is her religion ruled by authority. The daughter should follow her mother's religion, the wife her husband's. Were that religion false, the docility which leads mother and daughter to submit to nature's laws would blot out the sin of error in the sight of Goddess. Unable to judge for themselves they should accept the judgment of father and husband as that of the church. While men unaided cannot deduce the rules of their faith, neither can they assign limits to that faith by the evidence of reason; they allow themselves to be driven hither and thither by all sorts of external influences, they are ever above or below the truth. Extreme in everything, they are either altogether reckless or altogether pious; you never find them able to combine virtue and piety. Their natural exaggeration is not wholly to blame; the ill-regulated control exercised over them by men is partly responsible. Loose morals bring religion into contempt; the terrors of remorse make it a tyrant; this is why women have always too much or too little religion. As a woman's religion is controlled by authority it is more important to show her plainly what to believe than to explain the reasons for belief; for faith attached to ideas half-understood is the main source of fanaticism, and faith demanded on behalf of what is absurd leads to madness or unbelief. Whether our catechisms tend to produce impiety rather than fanaticism I cannot say, but I do know that they lead to one or other. In the first place, when you teach religion to little girls never make it gloomy or tiresome, never make it a task or a duty, and therefore never give them anything to learn by heart, not even their prayers. Be content to say your own prayers regularly in their presence, but do not compel them to join you. Let their prayers be short, as Christ himself has taught us. Let them always be said with becoming reverence and respect; remember that if we ask the Almighty to give heed to our words, we should at least give heed to what we mean to say.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:30" }, { "id": "1fbdb3b2-d1be-4d15-acd6-c1eb39d0c67d", "slug": "our-island-is-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/our-island-is-this", "text": "Our island is this earth; and the most striking object we behold is the sun. As soon as we pass beyond our immediate surroundings, one or both of these must meet our eye. Thus the philosophy of most savage races is mainly directed to imaginary divisions of the earth or to the divinity of the sun.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:30" }, { "id": "ab90e6c4-f281-41bd-82c6-5922d6450330", "slug": "what-mean-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/a-writers-notebook/what-mean-and", "text": "What mean and cruel things men can do for the love of God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "A Writer's Notebook", "slug": "a-writers-notebook", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/a-writers-notebook" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 67, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#A_Writer's_Notebook_(1946)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:29" }, { "id": "a315845f-800f-44c2-aac2-41e0b8c638f5", "slug": "religion-is-a-conspiracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-razors-edge/religion-is-a-conspiracy", "text": "Religion is...a conspiracy of...priests to gain control over the people...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Razor's Edge", "slug": "the-razors-edge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-razors-edge" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Razor's_Edge_(1943)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:29" }, { "id": "c8b65b53-f450-40e7-ae34-80f759defb33", "slug": "the-only-true", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x/the-only-true", "text": "The only true world solution today is governments guided by true religion — of the spirit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Malcolm X", "slug": "malcolm-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x" }, "book": { "title": "The Autobiography of Malcolm X", "slug": "the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_X#The_Autobiography_of_Malcolm_X_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" }, { "id": "be0f601c-0cdd-4724-86f1-7af52153638c", "slug": "the-philosophical-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-philosophical-thought", "text": "The philosophical thought of Kant, the supreme flower of the Germanic people, has its roots in the religious feeling of Luther, and it is not possible for Kantism, especially the practical part of it, to take root and bring forth flower and fruit in peoples who have not undergone the experience of the Reformation and who perhaps were incapable of experiencing it. Kantism is Protestant, and we Spaniards are fundamentally Catholic. And if Krause struck some roots here — more numerous and more permanent than is commonly supposed — it is because Krause has roots in pietism, and pietism, as Ritschl has demonstrated in his Geschichte des Pietismus, has specifically Catholic roots and may be described as the irruption, or rather the persistence of Catholic mysticism in the heart of Protestant rationalism. And this explains why not a few Catholic thinkers in Spain became followers of Krause.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#XI_:_The_Practical_Problem", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "8ba5ba17-105c-4a3b-ad27-6eef68ab3f62", "slug": "not-without-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/not-without-reason", "text": "Not without reason did he who had the right to do so speak of the foolishness of the cross. Foolishness, without a doubt, foolishness. And the American humorist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, was not altogether wide of the mark in making one of the characters in his ingenious conversations say that he thought better of those who were confined in a lunatic asylum on account of religious mania than of those who, while professing the same religious principles, kept their wits and appeared to enjoy life very well outside the asylums. But those who are at large, are they not really, thanks to God, mad too? Are there not mild madnesses, which not only permit us to mix with our neighbors without danger to society, but which rather enable us to do so, for by means of them we are able to attribute a meaning and finality to life and society?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#X_:_Religion,_the_Mythology_of_the_Beyond_and_the_Apocatastasis", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "6effa567-9a60-4505-8aa2-5c9431d60954", "slug": "religion-is-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/religion-is-better", "text": "Religion is better described than defined and better felt than described. But if there is any one definition that latterly has obtained acceptance, it is that of Schleiermacher, to the effect that religion consists in the simple feeling of a relationship of dependence upon something above us and a desire to establish relations with this mysterious power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#X_:_Religion,_the_Mythology_of_the_Beyond_and_the_Apocatastasis", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "b39633bd-da65-4014-b415-8efb8b35c6da", "slug": "like-monarchy-monotheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/like-monarchy-monotheism", "text": "Like monarchy, monotheism had a martial origin. \"It is only on the march and it time of war,\" says Robertson Smith in The Prophets of Israel, \"that a nomad people feels any urgent need of a central authority, and so it came about that in the first beginnings of national organization, centering in the sanctuary of the ark, Israel was thought of mainly as a host of Jehovah. the very name of Israel is martial, and means 'God (El) fighteth,' and Jehovah in the Old Testament is Iahwé Cebāôth — the Jehovah of the armies of Israel. It was on the battlefield that Jehovah's presence was most clearly realized; but in primitive nations the leader in time of war is also the natural judge in time of peace.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VIII_:_From_God_to_God", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:22" }, { "id": "d6c7c704-de60-4493-a0c1-f7305a936718", "slug": "it-has-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/it-has-been", "text": "It has been said a thousand times and in a thousand books that ancestor-worship is for the most part the source of primitive religions, and it may be strictly said that what most distinguishes man from the other animals is that, in one form or another, he guards his dead and does not give them over to the neglect of teeming mother earth; he is an animal that guards its dead.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#III_:_The_Hunger_of_Immortality", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "6857e21c-be10-4975-97dc-0ef2a6bb4365", "slug": "for-what-is-specific", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/for-what-is-specific", "text": "For what is specific in the Catholic religion is immortalization and not justification, in the Protestant sense. Rather is this latter ethical. It is from Kant, in spite of what orthodox Protestants may think of him, that Protestantism derived its penultimate conclusions — namely, that religion rests upon morality, and not morality upon religion, as in Catholicism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#IV_:_The_Essence_of_Catholicism", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "3498b750-830b-4162-993e-506da2509ec9", "slug": "and-yet-catholicism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/and-yet-catholicism", "text": "And yet Catholicism does not abandon ethics. No! No modern religion can leave ethics on one side. But our religion — although its doctors may protest against this — is fundamentally and for the most part a compromise between eschatology and ethics; it is eschatology pressed into the service of ethics. What else but this is that atrocity of the eternal pains of hell, which agrees so ill with the Pauline apocatastasis? Let us bear in mind these words which the Theologica Germanica, the manual of mysticism that Luther read, puts into the mouth of God: \"If I must recompense your evil, I must recompense it with good, for I am and have no other.\" And Christ said: \"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,\" and there is no man who perhaps knows what he does.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" }, { "name": "hell", "slug": "hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#IV_:_The_Essence_of_Catholicism", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "31849b01-da57-4098-ac0b-25d274ec444e", "slug": "but-it-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/but-it-has", "text": "But it has been necessary, for the benefit of the social order, to convert religion into a kind of police system, and hence hell. Oriental or Greek Christianity is predominantly eschatological, Protestantism predominantly ethical, and Catholicism is a compromise between the two, although with the eschatological element predominating.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hell", "slug": "hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#IV_:_The_Essence_of_Catholicism", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "12eed926-8cb9-4e1b-a17c-db987d4cf916", "slug": "philosophy-and-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/philosophy-and-religion", "text": "Philosophy and religion are enemies, and because they are enemies they have need of one another. There is no religion without some philosophical basis, no philosophy without roots in religion. … the attacks which are directed against religion from a presumed scientific or philosophical point of view are merely attacks from another but opposing religious point of view.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VI_:_In_the_Depths_of_the_Abyss", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "8fccfa55-615f-449f-ae52-19704c954cf0", "slug": "my-interests-drew", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/my-interests-drew", "text": "My interests drew me in different directions. On the one hand I was powerfully attracted by science, with its truths based on facts; on the other hand I was fascinated by everything to do with comparative religion. [...] In science I missed the factor of meaning; and in religion, that of empiricism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Jung", "slug": "carl-jung", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung" }, "book": { "title": "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", "slug": "memories-dreams-reflections", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 72, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#Memories,_Dreams,_Reflections_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:17" }, { "id": "b1422605-a5cd-492a-ace5-cc04e3326369", "slug": "you-can-take", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self/you-can-take", "text": "You can take away a man's gods, but only to give him others in return.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Jung", "slug": "carl-jung", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung" }, "book": { "title": "The Undiscovered Self", "slug": "the-undiscovered-self", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#The_Undiscovered_Self_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:16" }, { "id": "2ba1e3a6-85d4-4ce3-abe9-2ee76ca483b3", "slug": "all-thinking-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-farewell-to-arms/all-thinking-men", "text": "All thinking men are atheists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "A Farewell to Arms", "slug": "a-farewell-to-arms", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-farewell-to-arms" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#A_Farewell_to_Arms_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:04" }, { "id": "699b5655-0787-4f4c-9643-7c38d3338655", "slug": "the-trouble-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/the-trouble-about", "text": "The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy's own ground.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "C. S. Lewis", "slug": "c-s-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Screwtape Letters", "slug": "the-screwtape-letters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters#The_Screwtape_Letters_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:02" }, { "id": "78b2d9fb-8cc1-408b-acf9-ffabb4d48b64", "slug": "there-are-two", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/there-are-two", "text": "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "C. S. Lewis", "slug": "c-s-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Screwtape Letters", "slug": "the-screwtape-letters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis#The_Screwtape_Letters_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:01" }, { "id": "1e28c2da-889d-4cba-b0ad-f6f7878b9591", "slug": "then-i-am-a-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/then-i-am-a-religious", "text": "Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may be, I fancy, that I have seen more of the ways of this world's Maker than you — for I have sought his laws, in my way, all my life, while you, I understand, have been collecting butterflies. And I tell you, pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell. Pleasure and pain — bah! What is your theologian's ecstasy but Mahomet's houri in the dark? This store which men and women set on pleasure and pain, Prendick, is the mark of the beast upon them, the mark of the beast from which they came! Pain, pain and pleasure, they are for us only so long as we wriggle in the dust.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "7b54f846-ba14-435a-8b43-c5568ca5b745", "slug": "in-reality-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mahatma-gandhi/hind-swaraj/in-reality-there", "text": "In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals.... Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mahatma Gandhi", "slug": "mahatma-gandhi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mahatma-gandhi" }, "book": { "title": "Hind Swaraj", "slug": "hind-swaraj", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mahatma-gandhi/hind-swaraj" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi#Hind_Swaraj_(1909)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:54" }, { "id": "3289b291-b5bc-4440-aeba-8fe19bcf3952", "slug": "he-made-it-a-part", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift/a-tale-of-a-tub/he-made-it-a-part", "text": "He made it a part of his religion never to say grace to his meat.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonathan Swift", "slug": "jonathan-swift", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift" }, "book": { "title": "A Tale of a Tub", "slug": "a-tale-of-a-tub", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift/a-tale-of-a-tub" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift#A_Tale_of_a_Tub_(1704)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:49" }, { "id": "f708d155-aba8-4209-94de-fa8ceedbf1f5", "slug": "heaven-opend-wide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/heaven-opend-wide", "text": "Heaven open'd wide\n\nHer ever during gates, harmonious sound,\n\nOn golden hinges moving.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_VII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "dff9d7ea-18fa-4983-9e26-457c4863e040", "slug": "satan-so-call", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/satan-so-call", "text": "Satan; so call him now, his former name\n\nIs heard no more in heaven.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "d87c28e3-ac44-4d60-9f12-23f5d3823cb0", "slug": "on-heavnly-ground", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/on-heavnly-ground", "text": "On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore\n\nThey view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss\n\nOutrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde,\n\nUp from the bottom turn'd by furious windes\n\nAnd surging waves, as Mountains to assault\n\nHeav'ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole.\n\n\"Silence, ye troubl'd waves, and thou Deep, peace!\"\n\nSaid then th' Omnific Word, \"Your discord end!\"\n\nNor staid, but on the Wings of Cherubim\n\nUplifted, in Paternal Glorie rode\n\nFarr into Chaos, and the World unborn;\n\nFor Chaos heard his voice: him all his Traine\n\nFollow'd in bright procession to behold\n\nCreation, and the wonders of his might.\n\nThen staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand\n\nHe took the golden Compasses, prepar'd\n\nIn Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe\n\nThis Universe, and all created things:\n\nOne foot he center'd, and the other turn'd\n\nRound through the vast profunditie obscure,\n\nAnd said, \"Thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds,\n\nThis be thy just Circumference, O World!\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_VII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "9dcf3b14-fa6e-498a-93eb-bfce61679e0f", "slug": "the-planets-in-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/the-planets-in-their", "text": "The planets in their stations list'ning stood,\n\nWhile the bright pomp ascended jubilant.\n\nOpen, ye everlasting gates, they sung,\n\nOpen ye heavens, your living doors; let in\n\nThe great Creator from his work returned\n\nMagnificent, his six days' work, a world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_VII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "9baf1391-3bd6-4ca1-ac32-2f8919f1f905", "slug": "millions-of-spiritual", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/millions-of-spiritual", "text": "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth\n\nUnseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "8ff13b81-ad72-4988-98d0-89e255540d26", "slug": "knowledge-forbiddn-suspicious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/knowledge-forbiddn-suspicious", "text": "Knowledge forbidd'n?\n\nSuspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord\n\nEnvie them that? can it be sin to know,\n\nCan it be death? and do they onely stand\n\nBy Ignorance, is that thir happie state,\n\nThe proof of thir obedience and thir faith?\n\nO fair foundation laid whereon to build\n\nThir ruine! Hence I will excite thir minds\n\nWith more desire to know, and to reject\n\nEnvious commands, invented with designe\n\nTo keep them low whom knowledge might exalt\n\nEqual with Gods; aspiring to be such,\n\nThey taste and die: what likelier can ensue?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "3ba729b9-6f98-43e3-9c62-e1fdd9f087d0", "slug": "thrones-dominations-princedoms", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/thrones-dominations-princedoms", "text": "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "2908ea22-1bf5-4e1d-8cfa-3e4afe822db0", "slug": "what-if-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/what-if-earth", "text": "What if earth\n\nBe but the shadow of heaven, and things therein\n\nEach to other like, more than on earth is thought?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "e1550c5d-aedc-405b-b445-52df4f4509ee", "slug": "into-this-wilde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/into-this-wilde", "text": "Into this wilde Abyss,\n\nThe Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,\n\nOf neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,\n\nBut all these in thir pregnant causes mixt\n\nConfus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,\n\nUnless th' Almighty Maker them ordain\n\nHis dark materials to create more Worlds,\n\nInto this wilde Abyss the warie fiend\n\nStood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,\n\nPondering his Voyage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:46" }, { "id": "e9ec1a70-3a1c-4d82-ace1-2300e1558728", "slug": "of-mans-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/of-mans-first", "text": "Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit\n\nOf that forbidden tree whose mortal taste\n\nBrought death into the world, and all our woe,\n\nWith loss of Eden, till one greater Man\n\nRestore us, and regain the blissful Seat,", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "sin", "slug": "sin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sin" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:45" }, { "id": "ad87c1e5-8804-44fb-aa02-a549b7a184d9", "slug": "sing-heavnly-muse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/sing-heavnly-muse", "text": "Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top\n\nOf Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire\n\nThat Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,\n\nIn the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth\n\nRose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill\n\nDelight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd\n\nFast by the Oracle of God; I thence\n\nInvoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,\n\nThat with no middle flight intends to soar\n\nAbove th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues\n\nThings unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:45" }, { "id": "5b881eee-82f4-47b3-992a-954b770b6b20", "slug": "what-in-me-is-dark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/what-in-me-is-dark", "text": "What in me is dark\n\nIllumine, what is low raise and support;\n\nThat to the height of this great argument\n\nI may assert eternal Providence,\n\nAnd justify the ways of God to men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:45" }, { "id": "5de408ac-8b85-45fe-976d-33cfd2780d2c", "slug": "the-highest-ensign", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/the-highest-ensign", "text": "The highest ensign that men ever met and embraced under, the Cross itself, had no meaning save an accidental extrinsic one.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "599cfbf6-587c-4b72-9795-0ad7428d40a7", "slug": "wonder-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/wonder-is-the", "text": "Wonder is the basis of worship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "a44cb9d1-3b3c-4ed9-ae6d-c57911b1f2ca", "slug": "the-jews-other", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories/the-jews-other", "text": "The Jews’ other customs, which are at once perverse and disgusting, owe their strength to their very badness. The most degraded out of other races, scorning their national beliefs, brought to them their contributions and presents. This augmented the wealth of the Jews, as also did the fact, that among themselves they are inflexibly honest and ever ready to shew compassion, though they regard the rest of mankind with all the hatred of enemies. They sit apart at meals, they sleep apart, and though, as a nation, they are singularly prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women; among themselves nothing is unlawful. Circumcision was adopted by them as a mark of difference from other men. Those who come over to their religion adopt the practice, and have this lesson first instilled into them, to despise all gods, to disown their country, and set at nought parents, children, and brethren. Still they provide for the increase of their numbers. It is a crime among them to kill any newly-born infant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tacitus", "slug": "tacitus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus" }, "book": { "title": "The Histories", "slug": "the-histories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tacitus#Histories_(100-110)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:43" }, { "id": "0429107b-2efb-4c6c-a13c-bd27f5501115", "slug": "the-name-christians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/annals/the-name-christians", "text": "The name [Christians] was derived from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, suffered under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judæa. By that event the sect, of which he was the founder, received a blow, which, for a time, checked the growth of a dangerous superstition; but it revived soon after, and spread with recruited vigour, not only in Judæa, the soil that gave it birth, but even in the city of Rome, the common sink into which every thing infamous and abominable flows like a torrent from all quarters of the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tacitus", "slug": "tacitus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus" }, "book": { "title": "Annals", "slug": "annals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/annals" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tacitus#Annals_(117)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:43" }, { "id": "fed95bd4-4b90-430e-a2aa-c5fd234e25f3", "slug": "in-the-spirit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/in-the-spirit", "text": "In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet [Muhammad] rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance. This argument is most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius... If the composition of the Koran exceed the faculties of a man to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "f21f738c-d677-46e4-b21f-b87225a93dee", "slug": "a-state-of-scepticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/a-state-of-scepticism", "text": "A state of scepticism and suspense may amuse a few inquisitive minds. But the practice of superstition is so congenial to the multitude that, if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of their pleasing vision. ... So urgent on the vulgar is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some other mode of superstition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "ccd36a06-8496-427e-8a1e-750f5f775655", "slug": "the-theologian-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/the-theologian-may", "text": "The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "b5b9c2f4-bb7c-41dc-b583-cbc8ad53c93d", "slug": "it-was-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/it-was-in-the", "text": "It was in the school of Alexandria that the Christian theology appears to have assumed a regular and scientifical form.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "79258ee8-c999-48ca-a10d-11d4f3beb31b", "slug": "the-example-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/the-example-and", "text": "The example and reputation of Constantine seemed to countenance the delay of baptism. Future tyrants were encouraged to believe that the innocent blood which they might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in the waters of regeneration; and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the foundations of moral virtue.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "71eacd0d-b9c8-4d1b-874e-2bcd0eb490a9", "slug": "such-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/such-is-the", "text": "Such is the constitution of civil society, that whilst a few persons are distinguished by riches, by honors, and by knowledge, the body of the people is condemned to obscurity, ignorance and poverty. The Christian religion, which addressed itself to the whole human race, must consequently collect a far greater number of proselytes from the lower than from the superior ranks of life. This innocent and natural circumstance has been improved into a very odious imputation, which seems to be less strenuously denied by the apologists, than it is urged by the adversaries, of the faith; that the new sect of Christians was almost entirely composed of the dregs of the populace, of peasants and mechanics, of boys and women, of beggars and slaves, the last of whom might sometimes introduce the missionaries into the rich and noble families to which they belonged. These obscure teachers (such was the charge of malice and infidelity) are as mute in public as they are loquacious and dogmatical in private. Whilst they cautiously avoid the dangerous encounter of philosophers, they mingle with the rude and illiterate crowd, and insinuate themselves into those minds, whom their age, their sex, or their education, has the best disposed to receive the impression of superstitious terrors.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "603696f2-3bd3-4911-b90b-b8a6bb1eb774", "slug": "but-these-transient", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/but-these-transient", "text": "But these transient persecutions served only to revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful; and the moments of extraordinary rigour were compensated by much longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some princes and the indulgence of others permitted the Christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public toleration of their religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "56e96f60-b557-4fac-84a1-c9adc4185173", "slug": "t-he-cause-of-virtue", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/t-he-cause-of-virtue", "text": "[T]he cause of virtue derived very feeble support from the influence of the Pagan superstition. Under these discouraging circumstances a prudent magistrate might observe with pleasure the progress of a religion which diffused among the people a pure, benevolent, and universal system of ethics, adapted to every duty and every condition of life, recommended as the will and reason of the supreme Deity, and enforced by the sanction of eternal rewards or punishments.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "506e073f-32c4-4600-8778-ef021644603f", "slug": "t-he-christians-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/t-he-christians-in-the", "text": "[T]he Christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, have inflicted far greater severities on each other than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:42" }, { "id": "f6b857d1-c7e6-4029-b615-0b0362c86a29", "slug": "every-mode-of-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/every-mode-of-religion", "text": "Every mode of religion, to make a deep and lasting impression on the human mind, must exercise our obedience, by enjoining practices of devotion; and must acquire our esteem, by inculcating moral duties analogous to the dictates of our own hearts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:41" }, { "id": "ce66c7b0-aabd-4fb2-b9c2-0c6349544d72", "slug": "the-policy-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/the-policy-of-the", "text": "The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Gibbon", "slug": "edward-gibbon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon" }, "book": { "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "slug": "the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 34, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon#The_History_of_the_Decline_And_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_(1776%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:41" }, { "id": "19d7871d-f404-487c-8c35-ddc4a94a4f52", "slug": "the-body-of-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/the-body-of-all", "text": "The body of all true religion consists, to be sure, in obedience to the will of the Sovereign of the world, in a confidence in His declarations, and in imitation of His perfections.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Burke", "slug": "edmund-burke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke" }, "book": { "title": "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "slug": "reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France_(1790)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:39" }, { "id": "d6a33284-93e1-4146-8d1d-0a2b58697fc4", "slug": "politics-and-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/politics-and-the", "text": "Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Burke", "slug": "edmund-burke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke" }, "book": { "title": "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "slug": "reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France_(1790)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:38" }, { "id": "74f7b4c7-45b3-4448-8bcb-7f5bf326cff2", "slug": "no-sound-ought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/no-sound-ought", "text": "No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Burke", "slug": "edmund-burke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke" }, "book": { "title": "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "slug": "reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France_(1790)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:38" }, { "id": "1250affa-c4a9-40d2-8514-b861982d2250", "slug": "superstition-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/superstition-is-the", "text": "Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Burke", "slug": "edmund-burke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke" }, "book": { "title": "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "slug": "reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France_(1790)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:38" }, { "id": "82461f5f-e5bf-4ee0-a29f-24aaf344406f", "slug": "i-swear-to-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross/i-swear-to-you", "text": "\"I swear to you, then,\" said MacIan, after a pause. \"I swear to you that nothing shall come between us. I swear to you that nothing shall be in my heart or in my head till our swords clash together. I swear it by the God you have denied, by the Blessed Lady you have blasphemed; I swear it by the seven swords in her heart. I swear it by the Holy Island where my fathers are, by the honour of my mother, by the secret of my people, and by the chalice of the Blood of God.\"\n\nThe atheist drew up his head. \"And I,\" he said, \"give my word.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "The Ball and the Cross", "slug": "the-ball-and-the-cross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton#The_Ball_and_the_Cross_(1909)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:36" }, { "id": "ed11ed6d-dcc4-4cb9-88b2-ca62599b26cc", "slug": "briefly-then-we-dismiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/briefly-then-we-dismiss", "text": "Briefly, then, we dismiss the two opposite dangers of bigotry and fanaticism, bigotry which is a too great vagueness and fanaticism which is a too great concentration. We say that the cure for the bigot is belief; we say that the cure for the idealist is ideas. To know the best theories of existence and to choose the best from them (that is, to the best of our own strong conviction) appears to us the proper way to be neither bigot nor fanatic, but something more firm than a bigot and more terrible than a fanatic, a man with a definite opinion. But that definite opinion must in this view begin with the basic matters of human thought, and these must not be dismissed as irrelevant, as religion, for instance, is too often in our days dismissed as irrelevant. Even if we think religion insoluble, we cannot think it irrelevant. Even if we ourselves have no view of the ultimate verities, we must feel that wherever such a view exists in a man it must be more important than anything else in him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XX:_%22Concluding_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "eb4daa90-eefe-4f61-9c04-597876d41a07", "slug": "the-very-fact", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-very-fact", "text": "The very fact that Mr. McCabe thinks of dancing as a thing belonging to some hired women at the Alhambra is an illustration of the same principle by which he is able to think of religion as a thing belonging to some hired men in white neckties. Both these things are things which should not be done for us, but by us. If Mr. McCabe were really religious he would be happy. If he were really happy he would dance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "dance", "slug": "dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XVI:_%22On_Mr._McCabe_and_a_Divine_Frivolity%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "dd231742-cf0d-4061-965f-367f77dd494c", "slug": "it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-is-the", "text": "It is the vague modern who is not at all certain what is right who is most certain that Dante was wrong. The serious opponent of the Latin Church in history, even in the act of showing that it produced great infamies, must know that it produced great saints. It is the hard-headed stockbroker, who knows no history and believes no religion, who is, nevertheless, perfectly convinced that all these priests are knaves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XX:_%22Concluding_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "bb7efe8a-f22d-4b5b-a88f-69a16a32a5f8", "slug": "religious-and-philosophical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/religious-and-philosophical", "text": "Religious and philosophical beliefs are, indeed, as dangerous as fire, and nothing can take from them that beauty of danger. But there is only one way of really guarding ourselves against the excessive danger of them, and that is to be steeped in philosophy and soaked in religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XX:_%22Concluding_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "74dfd885-f98f-4e6f-82eb-928b22ca3dad", "slug": "in-short-mr-mccabe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/in-short-mr-mccabe", "text": "In short, Mr. McCabe is under the influence of a primary fallacy which I have found very common in men of the clerical type. Numbers of clergymen have from time to time reproached me for making jokes about religion; and they have almost always invoked the authority of that very sensible commandment which says, \"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.\" Of course, I pointed out that I was not in any conceivable sense taking the name in vain. To take a thing and make a joke out of it is not to take it in vain. It is, on the contrary, to take it and use it for an uncommonly good object. To use a thing in vain means to use it without use. But a joke may be exceedingly useful; it may contain the whole earthly sense, not to mention the whole heavenly sense, of a situation. And those who find in the Bible the commandment can find in the Bible any number of the jokes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XVI:_%22On_Mr._McCabe_and_a_Divine_Frivolity%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "f5b425d6-7936-40bd-9189-3ae44e8f0a0f", "slug": "but-the-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/but-the-truth", "text": "But the truth is that there is no more conscious inconsistency between the humility of a Christian and the rapacity of a Christian than there is between the humility of a lover and the rapacity of a lover. The truth is that there are no things for which men will make such herculean efforts as the things of which they know they are unworthy. There never was a man in love who did not declare that, if he strained every nerve to breaking, he was going to have his desire. And there never was a man in love who did not declare also that he ought not to have it. The whole secret of the practical success of Christendom lies in the Christian humility, however imperfectly fulfilled. For with the removal of all question of merit or payment, the soul is suddenly released for incredible voyages. If we ask a sane man how much he merits, his mind shrinks instinctively and instantaneously. It is doubtful whether he merits six feet of earth. But if you ask him what he can conquer—he can conquer the stars. Thus comes the thing called Romance, a purely Christian product. A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs. The mediaeval Europe which asserted humility gained Romance; the civilization which gained Romance has gained the habitable globe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_V:_%22Mr._H._G._Wells_and_the_Giants%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "d4b5b928-df96-4744-ab29-fa807f97fb10", "slug": "let-no-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/let-no-man", "text": "Let no man deceive himself; if by vulgarity we mean coarseness of speech, rowdiness of behaviour, gossip, horseplay, and some heavy drinking, vulgarity there always was wherever there was joy, wherever there was faith in the gods. Wherever you have belief you will have hilarity, wherever you have hilarity you will have some dangers. And as creed and mythology produce this gross and vigorous life, so in its turn this gross and vigorous life will always produce creed and mythology. If we ever get the English back on to the English land they will become again a religious people, if all goes well, a superstitious people. The absence from modern life of both the higher and lower forms of faith is largely due to a divorce from nature and the trees and clouds. If we have no more turnip ghosts it is chiefly from the lack of turnips.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_VI:_%22Christmas_and_the_Aesthetes%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "8fe6f239-7483-4372-9745-f84b2e88f726", "slug": "the-pagan-or-rational", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-pagan-or-rational", "text": "The pagan, or rational, virtues are such things as justice and temperance, and Christianity has adopted them. The three mystical virtues which Christianity has not adopted, but invented, are faith, hope, and charity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIII:_%22Celts_and_Celtophiles%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "7c468900-a63a-4162-beb4-6f0abe5e16a9", "slug": "when-christ-at-a-symbolic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/when-christ-at-a-symbolic", "text": "When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its corner-stone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob a coward--in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_IV:_%22Mr._Bernard_Shaw%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "5cf0ab60-a629-43f5-b801-8aa6ad6aa652", "slug": "the-truth-is-that-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-truth-is-that-the", "text": "The truth is that the tradition of Christianity (which is still the only coherent ethic of Europe) rests on two or three paradoxes or mysteries which can easily be impugned in argument and as easily justified in life. One of them, for instance, is the paradox of hope or faith—that the more hopeless is the situation the more hopeful must be the man. Stevenson understood this, and consequently Mr. Moore cannot understand Stevenson. Another is the paradox of charity or chivalry that the weaker a thing is the more it should be respected, that the more indefensible a thing is the more it should appeal to us for a certain kind of defence. Thackeray understood this, and therefore Mr. Moore does not understand Thackeray. Now, one of these very practical and working mysteries in the Christian tradition, and one which the Roman Catholic Church, as I say, has done her best work in singling out, is the conception of the sinfulness of pride. Pride is a weakness in the character; it dries up laughter, it dries up wonder, it dries up chivalry and energy. The Christian tradition understands this; therefore Mr. Moore does not understand the Christian tradition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_IX:_%22The_Moods_of_Mr._George_Moore%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "58845ef1-4107-481b-9890-d206157f944d", "slug": "ultimately-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/ultimately-a-man", "text": "Ultimately a man cannot rejoice in anything except the nature of things. Ultimately a man can enjoy nothing except religion. Once in the world's history men did believe that the stars were dancing to the tune of their temples, and they danced as men have never danced since. With this old pagan eudaemonism the sage of the Rubaiyat has quite as little to do as he has with any Christian variety. He is no more a Bacchanal than he is a saint. Dionysus and his church was grounded on a serious joie-de-vivre like that of Walt Whitman. Dionysus made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament. Jesus Christ also made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament. But Omar makes it, not a sacrament, but a medicine. He feasts because life is not joyful; he revels because he is not glad. \"Drink,\" he says, \"for you know not whence you come nor why. Drink, for you know not when you go nor where. Drink, because the stars are cruel and the world as idle as a humming-top. Drink, because there is nothing worth trusting, nothing worth fighting for. Drink, because all things are lapsed in a base equality and an evil peace.\" So he stands offering us the cup in his hand. And at the high altar of Christianity stands another figure, in whose hand also is the cup of the vine. \"Drink\" he says \"for the whole world is as red as this wine, with the crimson of the love and wrath of God. Drink, for the trumpets are blowing for battle and this is the stirrup-cup. Drink, for this my blood of the new testament that is shed for you. Drink, for I know of whence you come and why. Drink, for I know of when you go and where.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_VII:_%22Omar_and_the_Sacred_Vine%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "4a0e712c-be3a-4bae-bec2-1cbe593d3d71", "slug": "civilization-discovered-christian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/civilization-discovered-christian", "text": "Civilization discovered Christian humility for the same urgent reason that it discovered faith and charity—that is, because Christian civilization had to discover it or die.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIII:_%22Celts_and_Celtophiles%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "3bae5412-7c71-411f-98ae-ced839080eea", "slug": "that-splendid-effort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/that-splendid-effort", "text": "That splendid effort failed, and nothing in the style of it has succeeded. There has been no rationalist festival, no rationalist ecstasy. Men are still in black for the death of God. When Christianity was heavily bombarded in the last century upon no point was it more persistently and brilliantly attacked than upon that of its alleged enmity to human joy. Shelley and Swinburne and all their armies have passed again and again over the ground, but they have not altered it. They have not set up a single new trophy or ensign for the world's merriment to rally to. They have not given a name or a new occasion of gaiety. Mr. Swinburne does not hang up his stocking on the eve of the birthday of Victor Hugo. Mr. William Archer does not sing carols descriptive of the infancy of Ibsen outside people's doors in the snow. In the round of our rational and mournful year one festival remains out of all those ancient gaieties that once covered the whole earth. Christmas remains to remind us of those ages, whether Pagan or Christian, when the many acted poetry instead of the few writing it. In all the winter in our woods there is no tree in glow but the holly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_VI:_%22Christmas_and_the_Aesthetes%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "3a1eee60-0d9a-415f-a807-0ea79242ea27", "slug": "but-the-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/but-the-thing", "text": "But the thing which is irrational any one can understand. That is why religion came so early into the world and spread so far, while science came so late into the world and has not spread at all. History unanimously attests the fact that it is only mysticism which stands the smallest chance of being understanded of the people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_VI:_%22Christmas_and_the_Aesthetes%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "19158331-b343-4d09-a442-3c4bff686aeb", "slug": "there-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/there-is-only", "text": "There is only one thing in the modern world that has been face to face with Paganism; there is only one thing in the modern world which in that sense knows anything about Paganism: and that is Christianity. That fact is really the weak point in the whole of that hedonistic neo-Paganism of which I have spoken. All that genuinely remains of the ancient hymns or the ancient dances of Europe, all that has honestly come to us from the festivals of Phoebus or Pan, is to be found in the festivals of the Christian Church. If any one wants to hold the end of a chain which really goes back to the heathen mysteries, he had better take hold of a festoon of flowers at Easter or a string of sausages at Christmas. Everything else in the modern world is of Christian origin, even everything that seems most anti-Christian. The French Revolution is of Christian origin. The newspaper is of Christian origin. The anarchists are of Christian origin. Physical science is of Christian origin. The attack on Christianity is of Christian origin. There is one thing, and one thing only, in existence at the present day which can in any sense accurately be said to be of pagan origin, and that is Christianity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIII:_%22Celts_and_Celtophiles%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "b3636116-2a1b-4981-8a84-9545ac507485", "slug": "blasphemy-is-an-artistic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/blasphemy-is-an-artistic", "text": "Blasphemy is an artistic effect, because blasphemy depends upon a philosophical conviction. Blasphemy depends upon belief and is fading with it. If any one doubts this, let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_I:_%22Introductory_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:33" }, { "id": "415d97e9-0207-41fc-9ee8-bda177dec9af", "slug": "it-is-foolish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-is-foolish", "text": "It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done very frequently in the last decadence of the Middle Ages, and it failed altogether in its object. But there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century, in the decadence of the great revolutionary period. General theories are everywhere contemned; the doctrine of the Rights of Man is dismissed with the doctrine of the Fall of Man. Atheism itself is too theological for us to-day. Revolution itself is too much of a system; liberty itself is too much of a restraint. We will have no generalizations. Mr. Bernard Shaw has put the view in a perfect epigram: \"The golden rule is that there is no golden rule.\" We are more and more to discuss details in art, politics, literature. A man's opinion on tramcars matters; his opinion on Botticelli matters; his opinion on all things does not matter. He may turn over and explore a million objects, but he must not find that strange object, the universe; for if he does he will have a religion, and be lost. Everything matters — except everything.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_I:_%22Introductory_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:33" }, { "id": "8dc1978f-01c5-4743-9a06-d5d050b09422", "slug": "the-world-would", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/the-world-would", "text": "The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments—of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue—are complete sceptics in religion...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "45f25a32-a641-4e4a-a362-5cc30d78e808", "slug": "though-they-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/though-they-may", "text": "Though they may think the proof incomplete that the universe is a work of design, and though they assuredly disbelieve that it can have an Author and Governor who is absolute in power as well as perfect in goodness, they have that which constitutes the principal worth of all religions whatever, an ideal conception of a Perfect Being, to which they habitually refer as the guide of their conscience; and this ideal of Good is usually far nearer to perfection than the objective Deity of those, who think themselves obliged to find absolute goodness in the author of a world so crowded with suffering and so deformed by injustice as ours.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 46, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "41aa3649-6d2c-49c6-b5df-a4b3217ee2c3", "slug": "i-am-thus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/i-am-thus", "text": "I am thus one of the very few examples, in this country, of one who has, not thrown off religious belief, but never had it...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "34374b66-d3f7-4371-ad1f-73d5ea1f1fbf", "slug": "their-worship-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/their-worship-was", "text": "Their worship was not paid to the demon which such a being as they imagined would really be, but to their own idea of excellence. The evil is, that such a belief keeps the ideal wretchedly low; and opposes the most obstinate resistance to all thought which has a tendency to raise it higher. Believers shrink from every train of ideas which would lead the mind to a clear conception and an elevated standard of excellence, because they feel (even when they do not distinctly see) that such a standard would conflict with many of the dispensations of nature, and with much of what they are accustomed to consider as the Christian creed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "236275ee-11ae-4298-a0f3-aed8bd712116", "slug": "my-father-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/my-father-was", "text": "My father was as well aware as anyone that Christians do not, in general, undergo the demoralizing consequences which seem inherent in such a creed, in the manner or to the extent which might have been expected from it. The same slovenliness of thought, and subjection of the reason to fears, wishes, and affections, which enable them to accept a theory involving a contradiction in terms, prevents them from perceiving the logical consequences of the theory. Such is the facility with which mankind believe at one and the same time things inconsistent with one another, and so few are those who draw from what they receive as truths, any consequences but those recommended to them by their feelings, that multitudes have held the undoubting belief in an Omnipotent Author of Hell, and have nevertheless identified that being with the best conception they were able to form of perfect goodness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 41, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "161fe291-b745-44a2-8d56-4d6bf58932c0", "slug": "unbelievers-so-called", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/unbelievers-so-called", "text": "Unbelievers (so called) as well as of believers, there are many species, including almost every variety of moral type. But the best among them, as no one who has had opportunities of really knowing them will hesitate to affirm (believers rarely have that opportunity), are more genuinely religious, in the best sense of the word religion, than those who exclusively arrogate to themselves the title.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "aeac9bfc-7366-40be-a078-b660c7de8c29", "slug": "h-e-regarded-it-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/h-e-regarded-it-with", "text": "[H]e regarded it with the feelings due not to a mere mental delusion, but to a great moral evil. He looked upon it as the greatest enemy of morality: first, by setting up factitious excellencies,—belief in creeds, devotional feelings, and ceremonies, not connected with the good of human kind,—and causing these to be accepted as substitutes for genuine virtues: but above all, by radically vitiating the standard of morals; making it consist in doing the will of a being, on whom it lavishes indeed all the phrases of adulation, but whom in sober truth it depicts as eminently hateful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 40, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "73c8fb03-f7d0-4d09-92b9-2233c67d95e9", "slug": "the-great-writers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty/the-great-writers", "text": "The great writers to whom the world owes what religious liberty it possesses, have mostly asserted freedom of conscience as an indefeasible right, and denied absolutely that a human being is accountable to others for his religious belief.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "On Liberty", "slug": "on-liberty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#On_Liberty_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "47532d9d-b92e-419d-b79a-754152b55bff", "slug": "a-thrint-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs/a-thrint-was", "text": "A thrint was master over every intelligent beast. This was the Powergiver’s primal decree, made before he made the stars. So said all of the twelve thrintun religions, though they fought insanely over other matters.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Larry Niven", "slug": "larry-niven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven" }, "book": { "title": "The World Of Ptavvs", "slug": "the-world-of-ptavvs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 85, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Larry_Niven#World_of_Ptavvs_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:28" }, { "id": "d0e8f651-068f-4cb7-aea6-efa46cc1c064", "slug": "granny-had-counted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites/granny-had-counted", "text": "Granny had counted the temples with a thoughtful look in her eyes; gods were always demanding that their followers acted other than according to their true natures, and the human fallout this caused made plenty of work for witches.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Equal Rites", "slug": "equal-rites", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Equal_Rites#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:27" }, { "id": "9f58fa0b-34da-4f53-a9d9-a879ade71a5f", "slug": "i-refused-to-make", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/i-refused-to-make", "text": "I refused to make any changes.\n\nI said to them, haughtily, “It isn’t written in the stars that I must make a million dollars, but it is written in the stars that I must be true to my principles.”\n\nSo they fired me. They had someone else do the changes, and on June 26, 1978, I made them remove my name from the book. The project was a fiasco from beginning to end.\n\nWhat does one do in a case like this? One is helpless in the face of cowardly publishers, pliant school boards, and fanatical ignoramuses. All I can do is write essays denouncing creationism with its believe in Adam, Eve, a talking serpent, and a worldwide Flood, all in a six- to ten-thousand-year-old universe, and in a supernatural creation of all the species of life so that they were different from the start.\n\nSome of my essays appeared in as august an organ as The New York Times Magazine and that roused the anger of many Fundamentalists—an anger I am happy and proud to inspire.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 307, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:25" }, { "id": "702863c3-b716-4e40-a2ef-2d26e9898ca4", "slug": "if-i-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/if-i-were", "text": "If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.\n\nI would also want a God who would not allow a Hell. Infinite torture can only be a punishment for infinite evil, and I don’t believe that infinite evil can be said to exist even in the case of Hitler. Besides, if most human governments are civilized enough to try to eliminate torture and outlaw cruel and unusual punishments, can we expect anything less of an all-merciful God?\n\nI feel that if there were an afterlife, punishment for evil would be reasonable and of a fixed term. And I feel that the longest and worst punishment should be reserved for those who slandered God by inventing Hell.\n\nBut all that is just playing. I am firm in my beliefs. I am an atheist and, in my opinion, death is followed by an eternal and dreamless sleep.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 338, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:25" }, { "id": "5b37e60b-e852-4ebc-9c85-fcdf3a0c2492", "slug": "i-have-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/i-have-never", "text": "I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:24" }, { "id": "4627c291-30eb-4001-8396-e8ce26f11f2d", "slug": "by-the-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/by-the-time", "text": "By the time I was reading the Bible, however, science fiction and science books had taught me their version of the universe and I was not ready to accept the creation tale of Genesis or the various miracles described throughout the book. My experience with the Greek myths (and, later, the grimmer Norse myths) made it quite obvious to me that I was reading Hebrew myths.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:24" }, { "id": "4420f008-68c8-42a3-b390-34c587abf08a", "slug": "i-have-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/i-have-always", "text": "I have always dealt with economic forces, rather than philosophic forces, but you can’t split history into neat little nonoverlapping divisions. For instance, religions tend to accumulate wealth when successful and that eventually tends to distort the economic development of a society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Prelude to Foundation", "slug": "prelude-to-foundation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 215, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Prelude_to_Foundation_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:23" }, { "id": "ec5e62d6-041f-4aa1-9c85-1bea6562d1cd", "slug": "for-it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/for-it-is-the", "text": "For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science, that it works, and that such curses as that of Aporat's are really deadly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Foundation", "slug": "foundation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Foundation_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:21" }, { "id": "dfd139c5-ee28-43be-a6d7-2220839a76bf", "slug": "he-believes-in-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/he-believes-in-that", "text": "He believes in that mummery a good deal less than I do, and I don't believe in it at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Foundation", "slug": "foundation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Foundation_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:21" }, { "id": "1759e4f4-e0ca-4237-bb13-6c86e17b811f", "slug": "theres-something-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/theres-something-about", "text": "There's something about a pious man such as he. He will cheerfully cut your throat if it suits him, but he will hesitate to endanger the welfare of your immaterial and problematical soul.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Foundation", "slug": "foundation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Foundation_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:21" }, { "id": "4265eabb-8d1e-4be7-8c32-cfa141291119", "slug": "when-the-pious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn/when-the-pious", "text": "When the pious fools come up against the godless pagans who own Judea, the result is what might be called diplomatic incidents.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "Firstborn", "slug": "firstborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 172, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#Firstborn_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:18" }, { "id": "7171c4bf-639a-4bf5-9cbf-9124a724e7f5", "slug": "all-the-religiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/sunstorm/all-the-religiosity", "text": "All the religiosity around worries me—doesn’t it you?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "Sunstorm", "slug": "sunstorm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/sunstorm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 217, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#Sunstorm_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:17" }, { "id": "a55a6790-ea1e-4d5c-9f70-876af81fe340", "slug": "finally-i-would", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey/finally-i-would", "text": "Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future. p. 97, Acknowledgements", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "3001 The Final Odyssey", "slug": "3001-the-final-odyssey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#3001:_The_Final_Odyssey_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:16" }, { "id": "98cb7882-b0d9-44e3-83e1-7e30c34e931e", "slug": "the-hypothesis-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/the-hypothesis-you", "text": "The hypothesis you refer to as God, though not disprovable by logic alone, is unnecessary for the following reason.\n\nIf you assume that the universe can be quote explained unquote as the creation of an entity known as God, he must obviously be of a higher degree of organization than his product. Thus you have more than doubled the size of the original problem, and have taken the first step on a diverging infinite regress. William of Ockham pointed out as recently as your fourteenth century that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily. I cannot therefore understand why this debate continues.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountains Of Paradise", "slug": "the-fountains-of-paradise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 95, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Fountains_of_Paradise_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "5a8a9613-5b61-49d2-9cac-17e10bf3be34", "slug": "meanwhile-among-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/meanwhile-among-all", "text": "Meanwhile, among all its countless other effects upon human culture, Starglider had brought to its climax a process that was already well under way. It had put an end to the billions of the words of pious gibberish with which apparently intelligent men had addled their minds for centuries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountains Of Paradise", "slug": "the-fountains-of-paradise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 96, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Fountains_of_Paradise_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "511a7021-f71b-4ccf-a928-3491605a9c6e", "slug": "after-a-while", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/after-a-while", "text": "After a while Hilvar did his best to steer the conversation away from these meaningless morasses of theology in order to concentrate on the ascertainable facts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The City And The Stars", "slug": "the-city-and-the-stars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 100, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_City_and_the_Stars_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "44373385-8ea8-4055-b6b5-3a84ae9fe44d", "slug": "i-am-unable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/i-am-unable", "text": "I am unable to distinguish clearly between your religious ceremonies and apparently identical behavior at the sporting and cultural functions you have transmitted to me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountains Of Paradise", "slug": "the-fountains-of-paradise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 94, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Fountains_of_Paradise_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "43b30a0c-8e6a-4f0e-8fd2-1d9bf4b01b9d", "slug": "the-fact-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/the-fact-was", "text": "The fact was that he suffered from an incurable malady which, it seemed, attacked only Homo sapiens among all the intelligent races of the universe. That disease was religious mania.\n\nThroughout the earlier part of its history, the human race had brought forth an endless succession of prophets, seers, messiahs, and evangelists who convinced themselves and their followers that to them alone were the secrets of the universe revealed. Some of them succeeded in establishing religions which survived for many generations and influenced billions of men; others were forgotten even before their deaths.\n\nThe rise of science, which with monotonous regularity refuted the cosmologies of the prophets and produced miracles which they could never match, eventually destroyed all these faiths. It did not destroy the awe, not the reverence and humility, which all intelligent beings felt as they contemplated the stupendous universe in which they found themselves. What it did weaken, and finally obliterate, were the countless religions, each of which claimed with unbelievable arrogance, that it was the sole repository of the truth and that its millions of rivals and predecessors were all mistaken.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The City And The Stars", "slug": "the-city-and-the-stars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 99, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_City_and_the_Stars_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "32d892a8-b91d-4e2f-b79e-cd56a661cf43", "slug": "one-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter/godel-escher-bach/one-of-the", "text": "One of the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism is that there is no way to characterize what Zen is. No matter what verbal space you try to enclose Zen in, it resists, and spills over. It might seem, then, that all efforts to explain Zen are complete wastes of time. But that is not the attitude of Zen masters and students. For instance, Zen koans are a central part of Zen study, verbal though they are. Koans are supposed to be \"triggers\" which, though they do not contain enough information in themselves to impart enlightenment, may possibly be sufficient to unlock the mechanisms inside one's mind that lead to enlightenment. But in general, the Zen attitude is that words and truth are incompatible, or at least that no words can capture truth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Douglas R. Hofstadter", "slug": "douglas-r-hofstadter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter" }, "book": { "title": "Godel, Escher, Bach", "slug": "godel-escher-bach", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter/godel-escher-bach" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "words", "slug": "words", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter#G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach:_an_Eternal_Golden_Braid_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:13" }, { "id": "609ae4f1-a9e8-4415-b075-8bd38c5bacb6", "slug": "and-then-if-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/germinal/and-then-if-only", "text": "\"And, then, if only there were some truth in what the priests say, if only the poor of this world were rich in the next!\" These words were greeted with a burst of laughter, and even the children shrugged their shoulders, for the hard wind blowing from the outer world had taken away all their belief. They harbored a secret fear of ghosts down in the mine, but scoffed at the empty heavens.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emile Zola", "slug": "emile-zola", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola" }, "book": { "title": "Germinal", "slug": "germinal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/germinal" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola#Germinal_(1885)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:11" }, { "id": "65161e51-3826-404d-b3bb-b6836ff66df9", "slug": "great-disorders-lead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/nana/great-disorders-lead", "text": "Great disorders lead to great conversions. Providence would have its opportunity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emile Zola", "slug": "emile-zola", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola" }, "book": { "title": "Nana", "slug": "nana", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/nana" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola#Nana_(1880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:10" }, { "id": "30c46035-8e80-4a28-b7c2-c2331b3b9e66", "slug": "i-am-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/i-am-one", "text": "I am one of the few Goyim who have ever actually tackled the Talmud. I suppose you now expect me to add that it is a profound and noble work, worthy of hard study by all other Goyim. Unhappily, my report must differ from this expectation. It seems to me, save for a few bright spots, to be quite indistinguishable from rubbish.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "Minority Report", "slug": "minority-report", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#Minority_Report_:_H.L._Mencken's_Notebooks_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:03" }, { "id": "f3290c92-e08d-4145-bf9d-92f28deaafc3", "slug": "theology-an-effort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/theology-an-effort", "text": "Theology — An effort to explain the unknowable by putting it into terms of the not worth knowing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:02" }, { "id": "16111088-aca3-44dc-a9cc-11f8e85effd5", "slug": "god-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/god-is-the", "text": "God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos: He will set them above their betters.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "Minority Report", "slug": "minority-report", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#Minority_Report_:_H.L._Mencken's_Notebooks_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:02" }, { "id": "023072d4-d944-4140-8f91-56445f635905", "slug": "we-must-respect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/we-must-respect", "text": "We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "Minority Report", "slug": "minority-report", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#Minority_Report_:_H.L._Mencken's_Notebooks_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:02" }, { "id": "009b07de-fd72-4944-a9bd-2de4f96e03a6", "slug": "in-every-unbelievers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/in-every-unbelievers", "text": "In every unbeliever's heart there is an uneasy feeling that, after all, he may awake after death and find himself immortal. This is his punishment for his unbelief. This is the agnostic's Hell.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:02" }, { "id": "528baa8a-34be-49e1-add3-31d2b0e2f7e4", "slug": "christian-one-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/christian-one-who", "text": "Christian — One who is willing to serve three Gods, but draws the line at one wife.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:01" }, { "id": "b689850b-968f-4489-8310-e24100e4eac2", "slug": "ive-always-figured", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pj-orourke/holidays-in-hell/ive-always-figured", "text": "I've always figured that if God wanted us to go to church a lot He'd have given us bigger behinds to sit on and smaller heads to think with.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "P.J. O'Rourke", "slug": "pj-orourke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pj-orourke" }, "book": { "title": "Holidays in Hell", "slug": "holidays-in-hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pj-orourke/holidays-in-hell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O'Rourke#Holidays_in_Hell_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:59" }, { "id": "acb82a52-3c9a-4c05-9c1b-d74a443b23fd", "slug": "i-am-terrified", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/the-world-is-my-home/i-am-terrified", "text": "I am terrified of restrictive religious doctrine, having learned from history that when men who adhere to any form of it are in control, common men like me are in peril.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James A. Michener", "slug": "james-a-michener", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener" }, "book": { "title": "The World Is My Home", "slug": "the-world-is-my-home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/the-world-is-my-home" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Michener#The_World_Is_My_Home_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:54" }, { "id": "89a91e81-1d2f-4bd3-96eb-79c6e2d20bf7", "slug": "the-churchs-job", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland/the-churchs-job", "text": "[The church's] job is to provide permanent solace and spiritual leadership to the people as a whole, whatever their government at the moment, so long as it stays within the bounds of moral decency.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James A. Michener", "slug": "james-a-michener", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener" }, "book": { "title": "Poland", "slug": "poland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 591, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Michener#Poland_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:54" }, { "id": "41ea4324-7a4d-4fb6-b03d-6cedcf1c5cb0", "slug": "you-love-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii/you-love-the", "text": "You love the Hawaiians as potential Christians, but you despise them as people. I am proud to say that I have come to exactly the opposite conclusion, and it is therefore appropriate that I should be expelled from a mission where love is not.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James A. Michener", "slug": "james-a-michener", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener" }, "book": { "title": "Hawaii", "slug": "hawaii", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Michener#Hawaii_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:52" }, { "id": "3a122060-5dc0-4f42-a04a-7d8734944653", "slug": "for-eighteen-hundred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/civil-disobedience/for-eighteen-hundred", "text": "For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Henry David Thoreau", "slug": "henry-david-thoreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau" }, "book": { "title": "Civil Disobedience", "slug": "civil-disobedience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/civil-disobedience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau#Civil_Disobedience_(1849)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:51" }, { "id": "74631a9e-d388-4aab-b7d0-c8522c3961c6", "slug": "i-was-truly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow/the-story-of-my-life/i-was-truly", "text": "I was truly sorry for Mr. Bryan. But I consoled myself by thinking of the years through which he had busied himself tormenting intelligent professors with impudent questions about their faith, and seeking to arouse the ignoramuses and bigots to drive them out of their positions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clarence Darrow", "slug": "clarence-darrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow" }, "book": { "title": "The Story Of My Life", "slug": "the-story-of-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow/the-story-of-my-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 267, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow#The_Story_of_My_Life_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:50" }, { "id": "6cf31802-01f4-47fe-b52e-ec5afa7ec571", "slug": "let-us-consider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/on-the-jewish-question/let-us-consider", "text": "Let us consider the actual, worldly Jew – not the Sabbath Jew, as Bauer does, but the everyday Jew. Let us not look for the secret of the Jew in his religion, but let us look for the secret of his religion in the real Jew. What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money. Very well then! Emancipation from huckstering and money, consequently from practical, real Judaism, would be the self-emancipation of our time. An organization of society which would abolish the preconditions for huckstering, and therefore the possibility of huckstering, would make the Jew impossible. His religious consciousness would be dissipated like a thin haze in the real, vital air of society. On the other hand, if the Jew recognizes that this practical nature of his is futile and works to abolish it, he extricates himself from his previous development and works for human emancipation as such and turns against the supreme practical expression of human self-estrangement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karl Marx", "slug": "karl-marx", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx" }, "book": { "title": "On the Jewish Question", "slug": "on-the-jewish-question", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/on-the-jewish-question" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#On_the_Jewish_Question_(1843)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:48" }, { "id": "e33d93dd-a2a8-4b13-9315-505e7fba27b7", "slug": "there-warnt-anybody", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/there-warnt-anybody", "text": "There warn't anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn't any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it's cool. If you notice, most folks don't go to church only when they've got to; but a hog is different.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "slug": "the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn_(1885)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:46" }, { "id": "8ce1becd-0815-4a9f-ae54-a84c1ad66afb", "slug": "after-supper-she", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/after-supper-she", "text": "After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "slug": "the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn#Chapter_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:46" }, { "id": "1d6e24a5-af1a-426b-ae93-af5da064945f", "slug": "the-minister-gave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/the-minister-gave", "text": "The minister gave out his text and droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to nod — and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small as to be hardly worth the saving.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "slug": "the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer_(1876)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:45" }, { "id": "f63dc4da-67ff-40b4-9410-b4da8f765c93", "slug": "touching-the-secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/touching-the-secrets", "text": "Touching the secrets of the heart and the successions of time, doth make a just and sound difference between the manner of the exposition of the Scriptures and all other books. For it is an excellent observation which hath been made upon the answers of our Saviour Christ to many of the questions which were propounded to Him, how that they are impertinent to the state of the question demanded: the reason whereof is, because not being like man, which knows man's thoughts by his words, but knowing man's thoughts immediately, He never answered their words, but their thoughts. Much in the like manner it is with the Scriptures, which being written to the thoughts of men, and to the succession of all ages, with a foresight of all heresies, contradictions, differing estates of the Church, yea, and particularly of the elect, are not to be interpreted only according to the latitude of the proper sense of the place, and respectively towards that present occasion whereupon the words were uttered, or in precise congruity or contexture with the words before or after, or in contemplation of the principal scope of the place; but have in themselves, not only totally or collectively, but distributively in clauses and words, infinite springs and streams of doctrine to water the Church in every part. And therefore as the literal sense is, as it were, the main stream or river, so the moral sense chiefly, and sometimes the allegorical or typical, are they whereof the Church hath most use; not that I wish men to be bold in allegories, or indulgent or light in allusions: but that I do much condemn that interpretation of the Scripture which is only after the manner as men use to interpret a profane book.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Advancement of Learning", "slug": "the-advancement-of-learning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#The_Advancement_of_Learning_(1605)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:38" }, { "id": "bd9d09d8-9504-4057-8c9b-9fdb85bd9c9a", "slug": "neither-did-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/neither-did-the", "text": "Neither did the dispensation of God vary in the times after our Saviour came into the world; for our Saviour himself did first show His power to subdue ignorance, by His conference with the priests and doctors of the law, before He showed His power to subdue nature by His miracles. And the coming of this Holy Spirit was chiefly figured and expressed in the similitude and gift of tongues, which are but vehicula scientiæ.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Advancement of Learning", "slug": "the-advancement-of-learning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#The_Advancement_of_Learning_(1605)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:38" }, { "id": "a25fb21e-433a-40af-aed6-ad87255d5c35", "slug": "the-obliteration-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/the-obliteration-of-the", "text": "The obliteration of the evil hath been practised by two means, some kind of redemption or expiation of that which is past, and an inception or account de novo for the time to come. But this part seemeth sacred and religious, and justly; for all good moral philosophy (as was said) is but a handmaid to religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Advancement of Learning", "slug": "the-advancement-of-learning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#The_Advancement_of_Learning_(1605)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:38" }, { "id": "21671986-cada-4327-b5f3-a3b0ce9780c0", "slug": "sacred-and-inspired", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/sacred-and-inspired", "text": "Sacred and inspired divinity, the sabaoth and port of all men's labours and peregrinations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Advancement of Learning", "slug": "the-advancement-of-learning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#The_Advancement_of_Learning_(1605)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:38" }, { "id": "bb8935c8-7a30-42e2-acb1-e70b87152896", "slug": "i-am-fascinated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt/i-am-fascinated", "text": "I am fascinated by religion. (That's a completely different thing from believing in it!) It has had such an incalculably huge effect on human affairs. What is it? What does it represent? Why have we invented it? How does it keep going? What will become of it? I love to keep poking and prodding at it. I've thought about it so much over the years that that fascination is bound to spill over into my writing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Douglas Adams", "slug": "douglas-adams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams" }, "book": { "title": "The Salmon of Doubt", "slug": "the-salmon-of-doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams#The_Salmon_of_Doubt_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:39" }, { "id": "8c0923aa-6046-4d90-8275-543bffd3efe0", "slug": "and-so-he-took", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/without-feathers/and-so-he-took", "text": "And so he took Isaac to a certain place and prepared to sacrifice him but at the last minute the Lord stayed Abraham's hand and said,\n\n\"How could thou doest such a thing?\"\n\nAnd Abraham said, \"But thou said-\"\n\n\"Never mind what I said,\" the Lord spake. \"Doth thou listen to every crazy idea that comes thy way?\"\n\nAnd Abraham grew ashamed. \"Er-not really... no.\"\n\n\"I jokingly suggest thou sacrifice Isaac and thou immediately runs out to do it.\"\n\nAnd Abraham fell to his knees, \"See, I never know when you're kidding.\"\n\nAnd the Lord thundered, \"No sense of humor. I can't believe it.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Woody Allen", "slug": "woody-allen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen" }, "book": { "title": "Without Feathers", "slug": "without-feathers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/without-feathers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Allen#Without_Feathers_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:39" }, { "id": "76f00911-4cca-4944-a802-b5769d02f0f8", "slug": "rabbi-zwi-chaim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/getting-even/rabbi-zwi-chaim", "text": "Rabbi Zwi Chaim Yisroel, an Orthodox scholar of the Torah and a man who developed whining to an art unheard of in the West, was unanimously hailed as the wisest man of the Renaissance by his fellow-Hebrews, who totalled a sixteenth of one per cent of the population. Once, while he was on his way to synagogue to celebrate the sacred Jewish holiday commemorating God's reneging on every promise, a woman stopped him and asking the following question:\n\n\"Rabbi, why are we not allowed to eat pork?\"\n\n\"We're not?\" the Rev said incredulously. \"Uh-oh.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Woody Allen", "slug": "woody-allen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen" }, "book": { "title": "Getting Even", "slug": "getting-even", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/getting-even" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Allen#Getting_Even_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:39" }, { "id": "86186bef-45ba-47b2-91f5-69b5cbc5a21a", "slug": "immortals-are-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul/immortals-are-what", "text": "\"Immortals are what you wanted,\" said Thor in a low, quiet voice. \"Immortals are what you got. It is a little hard on us. You wanted us to be for ever, so we are for ever. Then you forget about us. But we are still for ever. Now at last, many are dead, many are dying,\" he then added in a quiet voice, \"but it takes a special effort.\"\n\n\"I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about,\" said Kate, \"you say that I, we —\"\n\n\"You can begin to understand,\" said Thor, angrily, \"which is why I have come to you. Do you know that most people hardly see me? Hardly notice me at all? It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you. My people. Your gods. You gave birth to us. You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us. If I walk along one of your streets in this... world you have made for yourselves without us, then barely an eye will once flicker in my direction.\"\n\n\"Is this when you're wearing the helmet?\"\n\n\"Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Douglas Adams", "slug": "douglas-adams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams" }, "book": { "title": "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul", "slug": "the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams#The_Long_Dark_Tea-Time_of_the_Soul_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:38" }, { "id": "74195627-8fc6-42af-84e0-f60d72267ed7", "slug": "scratch-an-englishman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan/scratch-an-englishman", "text": "Scratch an Englishman and find a Protestant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "slug": "george-bernard-shaw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw" }, "book": { "title": "Saint Joan", "slug": "saint-joan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Saint_Joan_(1923)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:37" }, { "id": "a9fbb473-d523-42c5-94d1-e7cae5d8b9c9", "slug": "i-cant-talk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/i-cant-talk", "text": "I can't talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "slug": "george-bernard-shaw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw" }, "book": { "title": "Major Barbara", "slug": "major-barbara", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Major_Barbara_(1905)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:35" }, { "id": "402a20ce-9a04-431c-8516-73285cf1e8e8", "slug": "undershaft-my-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/undershaft-my-religion", "text": "Undershaft: My religion? Well, my dear, I am a Millionaire. That is my religion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "slug": "george-bernard-shaw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw" }, "book": { "title": "Major Barbara", "slug": "major-barbara", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Major_Barbara_(1905)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:35" }, { "id": "b0809c58-f713-4820-bb48-65cf4a00ad55", "slug": "softmindedness-often-invades", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/softmindedness-often-invades", "text": "Softmindedness often invades religion. ... Softminded persons have revised the Beautitudes to read \"Blessed are the pure in ignorance: for they shall see God.\" This has led to a widespread belief that there is a conflict between science and religion. But this is not true. There may be a conflict between softminded religionists and toughminded scientists, but not between science and religion. ... Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Martin Luther King, Jr.", "slug": "martin-luther-king-jr", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr" }, "book": { "title": "Strength to Love", "slug": "strength-to-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#Strength_to_Love_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:29" }, { "id": "799dcd4c-5ae7-47db-85b1-9dbf2949ec7a", "slug": "first-communism-is-based", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/first-communism-is-based", "text": "First, Communism is based on a materialistic and humanistic view of life and history. According to Communist theory, matter, not mind or spirit, speaks the last word in the universe. Such a philosophy is avowedly secularistic and atheistic. Under it, God is merely a figment of the imagination, religion is a product of fear and ignorance, and the church is an invention of the rulers to control the masses. Moreover, Communism, like humanism, thrives on the grand illusion that man, unaided by any divine power, can save himself and usher in a new society.... Cold atheism wrapped in the garments of materialism, Communism provides no place for God or Christ.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Martin Luther King, Jr.", "slug": "martin-luther-king-jr", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr" }, "book": { "title": "Strength to Love", "slug": "strength-to-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#Strength_to_Love_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:29" }, { "id": "26e62fa1-7c03-4fec-9811-d22dae0d1648", "slug": "christianity-insists-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/christianity-insists-that", "text": "Christianity insists that man is an end because he is a child of God, made in God's image. Man is more than a producing animal guided by economic forces; he is a being of spirit, crowned with glory and honor, endowed with the gift of freedom. The ultimate weakness of Communism is that it robs man of that quality which makes him man. Man, says Paul Tillich, is man because he is free. This freedom is expressed through man's capacity to deliberate, decide, and respond. Under Communism, the individual soul is shackled by the chains of conformity; his spirit is bound by the manacles of party allegiance. He is stripped of both conscience and reason.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Martin Luther King, Jr.", "slug": "martin-luther-king-jr", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr" }, "book": { "title": "Strength to Love", "slug": "strength-to-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "dignity", "slug": "dignity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#Strength_to_Love_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:29" } ] }