# Quotes about religion - Quotes: 92 - Authors: 23 - Narrower topics: [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion ## Quotes > 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. Annals Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > 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? The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > It was in the school of Alexandria that the Christian theology appears to have assumed a regular and scientifical form. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > [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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > [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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · p. 34 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > Superstition is the religion of feeble minds. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > "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." > > The atheist drew up his head. "And I," he said, "give my word." [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [The Ball and the Cross](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross/i-swear-to-you.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/briefly-then-we-dismiss.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-very-fact.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-is-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/religious-and-philosophical.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/in-short-mr-mccabe.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/but-the-truth.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [humility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/let-no-man.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-pagan-or-rational.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md), [hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/when-christ-at-a-symbolic.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-truth-is-that-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [pride](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride.md) > 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." [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/ultimately-a-man.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/civilization-discovered-christian.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [humility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/that-splendid-effort.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/but-the-thing.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/there-is-only.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/blasphemy-is-an-artistic.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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... Autobiography · p. 45 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md) > 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. Autobiography · p. 46 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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... Autobiography · p. 43 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. Autobiography · p. 42 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. Autobiography · p. 41 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. Autobiography · p. 45 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > [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. Autobiography · p. 40 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > 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. On Liberty Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md) > 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. [Larry Niven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven.md) · [The World Of Ptavvs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs.md) · p. 85 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs/a-thrint-was.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [Equal Rites](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites/granny-had-counted.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > I refused to make any changes. > > I 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.” > > So 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. > > What 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. > > Some 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 307 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/i-refused-to-make.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > 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. > > I 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? > > I 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. > > But 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 338 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/if-i-were.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 13 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/i-have-never.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov.md) · p. 13 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/by-the-time.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation.md) · p. 215 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/i-have-always.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/for-it-is-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > He believes in that mummery a good deal less than I do, and I don't believe in it at all. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/he-believes-in-that.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/theres-something-about.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md) > When the pious fools come up against the godless pagans who own Judea, the result is what might be called diplomatic incidents. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Firstborn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn.md) · p. 172 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn/when-the-pious.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > All the religiosity around worries me—doesn’t it you? [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Sunstorm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/sunstorm.md) · p. 217 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/sunstorm/all-the-religiosity.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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 [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [3001 The Final Odyssey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey/finally-i-would.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [happiness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness.md) > The hypothesis you refer to as God, though not disprovable by logic alone, is unnecessary for the following reason. > > If 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. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md) · p. 95 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/the-hypothesis-you.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md) · p. 96 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/meanwhile-among-all.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The City And The Stars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars.md) · p. 100 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/after-a-while.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md) · p. 94 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/i-am-unable.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. > > Throughout 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. > > The 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. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The City And The Stars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars.md) · p. 99 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/the-fact-was.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > 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. Godel, Escher, Bach Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [words](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words.md) > "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. Germinal Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > Great disorders lead to great conversions. Providence would have its opportunity. Nana Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [Minority Report](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/i-am-one.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > Theology — An effort to explain the unknowable by putting it into terms of the not worth knowing. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [A Mencken Chrestomathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/theology-an-effort.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [Minority Report](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/god-is-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [Minority Report](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/we-must-respect.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [A Mencken Chrestomathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/in-every-unbelievers.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > Christian — One who is willing to serve three Gods, but draws the line at one wife. [H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [A Mencken Chrestomathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/christian-one-who.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. Holidays in Hell Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [The World Is My Home](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/the-world-is-my-home.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/the-world-is-my-home/i-am-terrified.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > [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. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Poland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland.md) · p. 591 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland/the-churchs-job.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Hawaii](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii/you-love-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md) > 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? Civil Disobedience Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. The Story Of My Life · p. 267 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > 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. [Karl Marx](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx.md) · [On the Jewish Question](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/on-the-jewish-question.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/on-the-jewish-question/let-us-consider.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md) > 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. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [Adventures of Huckleberry Finn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/there-warnt-anybody.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [Adventures of Huckleberry Finn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/after-supper-she.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/the-minister-gave.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/touching-the-secrets.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/neither-did-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md) > 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. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/the-obliteration-of-the.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > Sacred and inspired divinity, the sabaoth and port of all men's labours and peregrinations. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/sacred-and-inspired.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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. [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [The Salmon of Doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt/i-am-fascinated.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > 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, > > "How could thou doest such a thing?" > > And Abraham said, "But thou said-" > > "Never mind what I said," the Lord spake. "Doth thou listen to every crazy idea that comes thy way?" > > And Abraham grew ashamed. "Er-not really... no." > > "I jokingly suggest thou sacrifice Isaac and thou immediately runs out to do it." > > And Abraham fell to his knees, "See, I never know when you're kidding." > > And the Lord thundered, "No sense of humor. I can't believe it." [Woody Allen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen.md) · [Without Feathers](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/without-feathers.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/without-feathers/and-so-he-took.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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: > > "Rabbi, why are we not allowed to eat pork?" > > "We're not?" the Rev said incredulously. "Uh-oh." [Woody Allen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen.md) · [Getting Even](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/getting-even.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/woody-allen/getting-even/rabbi-zwi-chaim.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > "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." > > "I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about," said Kate, "you say that I, we —" > > "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." > > "Is this when you're wearing the helmet?" > > "Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!" [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul/immortals-are-what.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > Scratch an Englishman and find a Protestant. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Saint Joan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan/scratch-an-englishman.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > I can't talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Major Barbara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/i-cant-talk.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > Undershaft: My religion? Well, my dear, I am a Millionaire. That is my religion. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Major Barbara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/undershaft-my-religion.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md) > 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. [Martin Luther King, Jr.](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr.md) · [Strength to Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/softmindedness-often-invades.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > 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. [Martin Luther King, Jr.](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr.md) · [Strength to Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/first-communism-is-based.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > 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. [Martin Luther King, Jr.](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr.md) · [Strength to Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-luther-king-jr/strength-to-love/christianity-insists-that.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md)