{ "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). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions", "heading": "Quotes about superstitions", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions.md", "quotes_count": 64, "authors_count": 43, "parent": null, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "d937cfe1-14d9-440a-a033-6e22bf4ad096", "slug": "men-mark-when", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays/men-mark-when", "text": "Men mark when they hit, and never mark when they miss; as they do generally also of dreams.... probable conjectures, or obscure traditions, many times turn themselves into prophecies; while the nature of man, which coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell that which indeed they do but collect... almost all of them, being infinite in number, have been impostures, and by idle and crafty brains merely contrived and feigned, after the event past.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Essays", "slug": "the-essays", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Essays_(Francis_Bacon)#Of_Prophecies", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:21" }, { "id": "2d3c9c08-2888-4d00-b277-e731f9656615", "slug": "superstition-without-a-veil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays/superstition-without-a-veil", "text": "Superstition, without a veil, is a deformed thing; for, as it addeth deformity to an ape, to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion, makes it the more deformed. And as wholesome meat corrupteth to little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt, into a number of petty observances.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Essays", "slug": "the-essays", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Essays_(Francis_Bacon)#Of_Superstition", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:20" }, { "id": "90c6d414-deaf-4c1d-a281-6f480ea9d66e", "slug": "sam-followed-his", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/sam-followed-his", "text": "Sam followed [his father], loved him, listened to him talk. He believed deeply in luck, the old man, though he was careful never to say the word. He called it the shifty shadow of God. All his life he paid close attention to the movements of that shadow. He taught Sam to see it passing, feel it hovering, because he said it was those shifts that governed a man's life and it always paid to be ahead of the play. If the chill of its shade felt good, you went out to meet it like a droughted farmer goes out, arms wide, to greet the raincloud, but if you got that sick, queer feeling in your belly, you had to stay put and do nothing but breathe and there was a good chance it would pass you by. It was as though luck made choices, that it could think. If you greeted it, it came to you; if you shunned it, it backed away.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "Cloudstreet", "slug": "cloudstreet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Cloudstreet_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:47" }, { "id": "ca0700fd-292e-4a97-8bbb-f96c1ac53c17", "slug": "its-bad-business", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey/the-devil-in-massachusetts/its-bad-business", "text": "It’s bad business meddling with the devil; it makes you superstitious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marion L. Starkey", "slug": "marion-l-starkey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey" }, "book": { "title": "The Devil in Massachusetts", "slug": "the-devil-in-massachusetts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey/the-devil-in-massachusetts" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 18, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marion_L._Starkey#The_Devil_in_Massachusetts:_A_Modern_Enquiry_into_the_Salem_Witch_Trials_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:54" }, { "id": "4f472348-a46a-46d0-bb81-203330a4914a", "slug": "people-at-large", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey/the-devil-in-massachusetts/people-at-large", "text": "People at large were not enjoying an intellectual awakening where so recently they had succumbed to superstitious panic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marion L. Starkey", "slug": "marion-l-starkey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey" }, "book": { "title": "The Devil in Massachusetts", "slug": "the-devil-in-massachusetts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marion-l-starkey/the-devil-in-massachusetts" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 221, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marion_L._Starkey#The_Devil_in_Massachusetts:_A_Modern_Enquiry_into_the_Salem_Witch_Trials_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:54" }, { "id": "d4782d88-a8e3-4647-b248-78bd9be79595", "slug": "to-a-logical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/transcendence/to-a-logical", "text": "“To a logical entity, such as myself, the behavior of organic intelligences such as yourself, provides many anomalies. For example, the history of humanity, the species concerning which my data banks have most information, is replete with cases where humans, on little or no evidence, have believed in impossibilities. They have accepted the existence of a variety of improbable entities: of gods and demons, of fairies and elves, of ‘good luck’ charms, of magic potions, of curses and hexes and evil eyes.” “Tally, if you’re going to blather about—” “But at the same time, humans and other organic intelligences often seem unwilling to accept the implications and consequences of their own legitimate scientific theories.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Transcendence", "slug": "transcendence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/transcendence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 256, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Transcendence_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:33" }, { "id": "9cc40d97-831a-49c8-9184-535a961fea04", "slug": "just-so-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy/just-so-our", "text": "Just so, our natural power is sapped by the parasites of the centuries: fear, superstition, a view of reality that reduces life's wonders to creaking machinery. If we starve these parasitic beliefs they will die.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marilyn Ferguson", "slug": "marilyn-ferguson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson" }, "book": { "title": "The Aquarian Conspiracy", "slug": "the-aquarian-conspiracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "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/Marilyn_Ferguson#Chapter_Seven,_Right_Power", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:21" }, { "id": "f89d99b6-9ecc-459d-9bed-1709cb4c7eac", "slug": "once-in-a-while", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-finney/from-time-to-time/once-in-a-while", "text": "Once in a while you’re momentarily conscious of being happy. But I’m superstitious, and I picture Fate—best be respectful, and use a capital F—as a misty presence somewhere up in the sky but not too far away. Always listening, alert and ready to punish forbidden optimism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Finney", "slug": "jack-finney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-finney" }, "book": { "title": "From Time to Time", "slug": "from-time-to-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-finney/from-time-to-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Finney#From_Time_to_Time_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:06" }, { "id": "1dd77c9e-f406-4fa0-9f48-04734128359e", "slug": "they-might-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/terminal-world/they-might-have", "text": "They might have their airships and machine guns, but superstition wasn’t something that went away just because you had engines and bullets.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "Terminal World", "slug": "terminal-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/terminal-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 177, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Terminal_World_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:41" }, { "id": "abbb19d0-6f38-4133-81bf-8cd5e4f28d01", "slug": "they-say-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/they-say-that", "text": "They say that eclipses foretoken misfortune, because misfortunes are common, so that, as evil happens so often, they often foretell it; whereas if they said that they predict good fortune, they would often be wrong. They attribute good fortune only to rare conjunctions of the heavens; so they seldom fail in prediction.", "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": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_II:_The_Misery_of_Man_without_God_(60-183)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:48" }, { "id": "89aacf9d-874b-431f-b7a8-55e8f7a15728", "slug": "if-there-is-in-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-social-contract/if-there-is-in-this", "text": "If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?", "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": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "7e7fa0a4-f9a6-4e46-809a-057479f4f10c", "slug": "since-human-beings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/god-is-not-great/since-human-beings", "text": "Since human beings are naturally solipsistic, all forms of superstition enjoy what might be called a natural advantage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "God Is Not Great", "slug": "god-is-not-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/god-is-not-great" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 74, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/God_Is_Not_Great#Chapter_Six:_Arguments_From_Design", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:43" }, { "id": "25662ffd-69ee-41c7-ad73-11bda534069d", "slug": "nearly-every-tale", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/the-dark-is-rising/nearly-every-tale", "text": "Nearly every tale that men tell of magic and witches and such is born out of foolishness and ignorance and sickness of mind—or is a way of explaining things they do not understand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cooper", "slug": "susan-cooper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper" }, "book": { "title": "The Dark Is Rising", "slug": "the-dark-is-rising", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/the-dark-is-rising" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 101, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cooper#The_Dark_Is_Rising_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:41" }, { "id": "30f3baae-ab32-41d6-9489-2e93c95471fa", "slug": "in-a-rude", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell/principles-of-geology/in-a-rude", "text": "In a rude state of society all great calamities are regarded by the people as judgments of God on the wickedness of man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Lyell", "slug": "charles-lyell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell" }, "book": { "title": "Principles of Geology", "slug": "principles-of-geology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell/principles-of-geology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lyell#Chpt.2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:20" }, { "id": "a3446b7c-cf2d-4670-9951-fa5a7f4de24c", "slug": "why-do-we-stop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind/why-do-we-stop", "text": "“Why do we stop for the greystones?” “Tradition, my boy,” he said grandly, throwing his arms wide. “And superstition. They are one and the same, anyway.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Patrick Rothfuss", "slug": "patrick-rothfuss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss" }, "book": { "title": "The Name of the Wind", "slug": "the-name-of-the-wind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 112, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#The_Name_of_the_Wind_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:08" }, { "id": "1aaf1c21-4fcd-4add-a6c6-7c13b2c28dd4", "slug": "you-dont-seem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind/you-dont-seem", "text": "“You don’t seem the superstitious type.” “I’m not,” Ben said. “I’m careful. There’s a difference.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Patrick Rothfuss", "slug": "patrick-rothfuss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss" }, "book": { "title": "The Name of the Wind", "slug": "the-name-of-the-wind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 93, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "caution", "slug": "caution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/caution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#The_Name_of_the_Wind_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:08" }, { "id": "37fc79ba-4e77-4485-ab36-f1f66cb68058", "slug": "he-did-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/he-did-not", "text": "He did not share the widespread present-day faith in astrology. It seemed likeliest to him that sheer accident ruled the world.", "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": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "52550240-11f6-46d6-ad08-bb38c0551080", "slug": "he-couldnt-give", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/he-couldnt-give", "text": "He couldn’t give in to assuming he was cursed, or had bad luck, or whatever it was. Superstition never got a man anywhere. But he had to admit, the pattern was disturbing. If he acted as he always had before, how could he expect different results? He had to try something new. Change, somehow. This was going to take more thought.", "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": 662, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "157583ae-fdb7-45c1-a78d-a16d162f10e3", "slug": "buds-relationship-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/buds-relationship-with", "text": "Bud's relationship with the female sex was governed by a gallimaufry of primal impulses, dim suppositions, deranged theories, overheard scraps of conversation, half-remembered pieces of bad advice, and fragments of no-doubt exaggerated anecdotes that amounted to rank superstition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "The Diamond Age", "slug": "the-diamond-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age" }, "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": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_First", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:12" }, { "id": "edb20982-e070-46a0-920c-e4a80dbc1640", "slug": "robert-neville-looked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson/i-am-legend/robert-neville-looked", "text": "Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew he did not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to him even in his pain. ... Full circle. A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Matheson", "slug": "richard-matheson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson" }, "book": { "title": "I Am Legend", "slug": "i-am-legend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson/i-am-legend" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Matheson#I_Am_Legend_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:58" }, { "id": "aa31b062-3515-44f9-8100-6e43fc9984f2", "slug": "well-it-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson/i-am-legend/well-it-was", "text": "Well, it was true. ... True, he thought, but no one ever got the chance to know it. Oh, they knew it was something, but it couldn’t be that — not that. That was imagination, that was superstition, there was no such thing as that. And, before science had caught up with the legend, the legend had swallowed science and everything.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Matheson", "slug": "richard-matheson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson" }, "book": { "title": "I Am Legend", "slug": "i-am-legend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-matheson/i-am-legend" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Matheson#I_Am_Legend_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:58" }, { "id": "29890c97-dc78-4e62-8772-fc742d115e1f", "slug": "of-all-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod/learning-the-world/of-all-the", "text": "Of all the sciences, astronomy was the one the superstitious liked least.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken MacLeod", "slug": "ken-macleod", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod" }, "book": { "title": "Learning The World", "slug": "learning-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod/learning-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 51, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_MacLeod#Learning_the_World_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:47" }, { "id": "dea9b1b7-5bc0-41a9-aa28-73f6d3a1914c", "slug": "peter-would-find", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-dark-design/peter-would-find", "text": "Peter would find out that that was superstition, a reasoning from effect to cause, totally invalid. It was in a class with the belief that if you eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while you were sitting in the outhouse, the devil would get you.", "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": 291, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "9726b936-5b94-40c2-9042-becaf1b79662", "slug": "and-coincidence-convinces", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-state-of-the-art/and-coincidence-convinces", "text": "And coincidence convinces the credulous. Two things happen at the same time, or one after another, and we assume there must be a link; well, we sacrificed a virgin last year, and there was a good harvest. Of course the ceremony to raise the sun works—it comes up every morning, doesn’t it? I say my prayers each night and the world hasn’t ended yet... Dung beetle thinking. Life is too complicated for there not to be continual coincidences, and we just have to come to terms with the fact that they merely happen and aren’t ordained, that some things occur for no real reason whatsoever, and that this is not a punishment and that is not a reward. Good grief; the most copper-bottomed, platinum-card proof of divine intervention, of some holy masterplan, would be if there were no coincidences at all! That really would look suspicious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The State Of The Art", "slug": "the-state-of-the-art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-state-of-the-art" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_State_of_the_Art_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:15" }, { "id": "64ee5b93-3721-4834-a68c-1f3a593a7830", "slug": "reason-shapes-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-state-of-the-art/reason-shapes-the", "text": "Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The State Of The Art", "slug": "the-state-of-the-art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-state-of-the-art" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_State_of_the_Art_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:15" }, { "id": "525f82c5-872e-4999-9dcc-bfead1a8cb83", "slug": "chester-wasnt-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east/chester-wasnt-about", "text": "Chester wasn’t about to commit the sin of optimism. Justifiably or not, he feared it would jinx everything.", "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": 501, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "optimism", "slug": "optimism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/optimism" } ], "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": "33700db0-2a33-43ac-9c4b-8258ede7c915", "slug": "no-one-is-so-thoroughly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/no-one-is-so-thoroughly", "text": "No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harriet Beecher-Stowe", "slug": "harriet-beecher-stowe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe" }, "book": { "title": "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "slug": "uncle-toms-cabin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe#Uncle_Tom's_Cabin_(1852)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:44" }, { "id": "fab63d42-4455-4792-95e2-18db35b4fe26", "slug": "the-notion-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/the-notion-that", "text": "The notion that we can transfer our guilt and sufferings to some other being who will bear them for us is familiar to the savage mind. It arises from a very obvious confusion between the physical and the mental, between the material and the immaterial.", "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": "guilt", "slug": "guilt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/guilt" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "8962efa8-f153-4201-93f8-f171938bc7be", "slug": "in-primitive-society-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/in-primitive-society-the", "text": "In primitive society the rules of ceremonial purity observed by divine kings, chiefs, and priests agree in many respects with the rules observed by homicides, mourners, women in childbed, girls at puberty, hunters and fishermen, and so on. To us these various classes of persons appear to differ totally in character and condition; some of them we should call holy, others we might pronounce unclean and polluted. But the savage makes no such moral distinction between them; the conceptions of holiness and pollution are not yet differentiated in his mind. To him the common feature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and in danger, and the danger in which they stand and to which they expose others is what we should call spiritual or ghostly, and therefore imaginary. The danger, however, is not less real because it is imaginary; imagination acts upon man as really does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid.", "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": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "holiness", "slug": "holiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/holiness" } ], "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": "426b18ec-7093-4d5e-b061-16199bf08e8b", "slug": "thus-it-comes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/thus-it-comes", "text": "Thus it comes about that the endeavour of primitive people to make a clean sweep of all their troubles generally takes the form of a grand hunting out and expulsion of devils and ghosts. They think that if they can only shake off these their accursed tormentors, they will make a fresh start in life, happy and innocent; the tales of Eden and the old poetic golden age will come true again.", "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": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "innocence", "slug": "innocence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/innocence" } ], "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": "3094339c-b177-493d-9654-bb605dd6d3ad", "slug": "if-any-of-my-readers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/if-any-of-my-readers", "text": "If any of my readers set out with the notion that that all races of men think and act much in the same way as educated Englishmen, the evidence of superstitious belief and custom collected in this work should suffice to disabuse him of so erroneous a prepossession.", "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": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "8c40ba5a-bcaa-47e9-ac7e-ad2eae43bd60", "slug": "human-worlds-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/human-worlds-are", "text": "Human worlds are always awash in superstition, only a stubborn elite proof against it.", "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": 306, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "7ee59785-d522-41e3-8185-07865821beff", "slug": "fear-and-superstition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/fear-and-superstition", "text": "Fear and superstition always follow the unseen, the unknown, the whispered of.", "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": 312, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "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/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": "a95f7013-a8c4-4e53-b316-7f6d3eb69fbd", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-rider-haggard/king-solomons-mines/i-am-not", "text": "I am not a nervous man in a general way, and very little troubled with superstitions, of which I have lived to see the folly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Henry Rider Haggard", "slug": "henry-rider-haggard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-rider-haggard" }, "book": { "title": "King Solomon's Mines", "slug": "king-solomons-mines", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-rider-haggard/king-solomons-mines" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard#King_Solomon's_Mines_(1885)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:26" }, { "id": "2f03a6e3-898e-4c9d-9a18-e3615e89e72f", "slug": "even-if-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/all-flesh-is-grass/even-if-the", "text": "Even if the barrier now should disappear and the Flowers withdraw their attention from our Earth, we still would have been shaken from the comfortable little rut which assumed that life as we know it was the only kind of life and that our road of knowledge was the only one that was broad and straight and paved. There had been ogres in the past, by finally the ogres had been banished. The trolls and ghouls and imps and all the others of the tribe had been pushed out of our lives, for they could survive only on the misty shores of ignorance and in the land of superstition. Now, I thought, we’d know an ignorance again (but a different kind of ignorance) and superstition, too, for superstition fed upon the lack of knowledge. With this hint of another world—even if its denizens should decide not to flaunt themselves, even if we should find a way to stop them—the trolls and ghouls and goblins would be back with us again. There’d be chimney corner gossip of this other place and a frantic, desperate search to rationalize the implied horror of its vast and unknown reaches, and out of this very search would rise a horror greater than any the other world could hold. We’d be afraid, as we had been before, of the darkness that lay beyond the little circle of our campfire.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "All Flesh is Grass", "slug": "all-flesh-is-grass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/all-flesh-is-grass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 179, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "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/Clifford_D._Simak#All_Flesh_is_Grass_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:01" }, { "id": "53895f33-6207-4a92-9102-80cca2600c20", "slug": "warlocks-and-witches", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-city-in-the-autumn-stars/warlocks-and-witches", "text": "Warlocks and witches debate to determine how to make their broomsticks fly again. But how shall they ever come together in strength? Even if your ideas had any truth, they’re so frequently, by their very character, at odds. Each claims to hold the key to the only wisdom. That’s where natural philosophers, who do not impose what they need to believe (or at least not so readily!) upon the world, but analyze what they see, have the strong advantage.", "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": 310, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "476f6861-28c7-4eab-a886-00f4fe3f3163", "slug": "if-you-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-city-in-the-autumn-stars/if-you-were", "text": "If you were to believe all the old, degenerate German legends, there’s a Grail in every castle, a Charlemagne or an Arthur under every mound! There not a noble house without at least one werewolf offspring or a younger son who’s made a pact with the Devil, an uncle practising the profane arts of alchemy, a vampirical grandfather, a mad monk, a ruined abbey in the grounds where witches meet, an incarcerated lunatic (or heiress—or both), an infanticide or two (and a patricide), and, of course, a family ghost.", "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": 263, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "3a2f69fa-0a6d-4259-875f-3640580abff6", "slug": "i-had-sampled", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-city-in-the-autumn-stars/i-had-sampled", "text": "I had sampled several such brotherhoods, including the Rosey Cross and the Orange Lodge, during the period in which I examined the Supernatural and found it not merely uninstructive but damnably dull, its members possessing nothing in the way of individual imagination and a great need to seek confirmation in numbers for the merits of miserable little madnesses....Such people as a rule were lonely, confounded misfits, attempting to alter the surrounding evidence of Nature by inventing abstractions to explain why common facts were false and ordinary reality a poor illusion.", "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": 210, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "2026-09-25T22:48:44" }, { "id": "6ef981e8-5c22-4157-9af6-f44a05767b82", "slug": "there-are-those", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-oak-and-the-ram/there-are-those", "text": "There are those who have an interest in using legends and superstitions for their own ends. They cherish such notions not for their own sake but for the use to which they can be put. Poor, wretched people who cannot love life seek for something beyond life, something they prefer to regard as better than life. And, as a result, they corrupt the knowledge they discover and, in turn, associate their own weaknesses with this knowledge—at least, in the minds of others like myself. “But the knowledge you have brought us, Corum—that extends our appreciate of life. You speak of a variety of worlds where mankind flourishes. You offer us information which brings light to our understanding, where the corrupt and the lost speak only of mysteries and dark superiorities and seek to elevate themselves in their own eyes and the eyes of their fellows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Oak and the Ram", "slug": "the-oak-and-the-ram", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-oak-and-the-ram" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 216, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Oak_and_the_Ram_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:42" }, { "id": "f4a90b5f-ac9f-4038-9deb-f7b5bc59a603", "slug": "how-will-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-king-of-the-swords/how-will-the", "text": "“How will the doctor fare?” Corum called. “The one who took me in.” “He will die unless he is clever and denounces you,” Jhary told him. “But he was a man of great intelligence and humanity. A man of science, too—of learning.” “All the more reason for killing him, if their priesthood has its way. Superstition, not learning, is respected here.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The King of the Swords", "slug": "the-king-of-the-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-king-of-the-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 335, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_King_of_the_Swords_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:41" }, { "id": "8f083dd5-01e0-4526-ad79-409b9ba71ebb", "slug": "each-rider-seemed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/each-rider-seemed", "text": "Each rider seemed to have a personal spell; and it was easy to see, as I watched their numbers shrink under the bombardment, how such primitive minds come to believe in their charms, for the survivors could not but feel their thaumaturgy had saved them, and the rest could not complain of the failure of theirs.", "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": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "87189928-e45d-426f-b55b-abb127fd4a0f", "slug": "nothing-in-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-rice/the-vampire-lestat/nothing-in-all", "text": "Nothing in all the world is so nonsensical and contradictory, save mortals, that is, who live in the grip of the superstitions of the past.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Rice", "slug": "anne-rice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-rice" }, "book": { "title": "The Vampire Lestat", "slug": "the-vampire-lestat", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-rice/the-vampire-lestat" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Rice#The_Vampire_Lestat_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:12" }, { "id": "dd84e527-d5ba-4d65-a324-80c3f5e3bd1e", "slug": "like-most-modern", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent/like-most-modern", "text": "Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Winter of Our Discontent", "slug": "the-winter-of-our-discontent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Part_Two", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:03" }, { "id": "7384bb19-d8e9-45ca-b2f1-bacad19ba261", "slug": "the-most-common", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/how-the-mind-works/the-most-common", "text": "'The most common of all follies,' wrote H. L. Mencken, 'is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.' In culture after culture, people believe that the soul lives on after death, that rituals can change the physical world and divine the truth, and that illness and misfortune are caused and alleviated by spirits, ghosts, saints . . . and gods.", "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": 554, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "75c61040-88ab-439f-868f-901182120410", "slug": "its-amazing-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/its-amazing-what", "text": "It’s amazing what superstitions survive in fearful minds.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 462, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "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/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:45" }, { "id": "48df85db-17e8-43e3-8018-50425d065650", "slug": "the-evidence-is-confused", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end/the-evidence-is-confused", "text": "The evidence is confused with mysticism—perhaps the prime aberration of the human mind.", "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": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "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": "3d841448-1fae-4d5e-a02f-1fd932bdfac2", "slug": "if-this-superstitious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/if-this-superstitious", "text": "If this superstitious fear of Spirits were taken away, and with it, Prognostiques from Dreams, false Prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which, crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted then they are for civill Obedience.", "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": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "obedience", "slug": "obedience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/obedience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "9921c414-b98e-4788-9961-7a91b377d4e6", "slug": "dr-asa-breed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/dr-asa-breed", "text": "[Dr. Asa Breed] said, the trouble with the world was... that people were still superstitious instead of scientific. He said that if everybody would study science more, there wouldn’t be all the trouble there was.", "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": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "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": "dad7e660-9b4f-48e4-b277-d8315e271814", "slug": "as-to-killing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life/as-to-killing", "text": "As to killing rulers, it depends entirely on the position of the ruler. If it is the Russian tsar, I most certainly believe in dispatching him to where he belongs. If the ruler is as ineffectual as an American president, it is hardly worth the effort. There are, however, some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry — the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth. (p. 207) -->", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emma Goldman", "slug": "emma-goldman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman" }, "book": { "title": "Living My Life", "slug": "living-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" }, { "name": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman#Living_My_Life_(1931)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:23" }, { "id": "d9db78e6-1dc0-4581-b55e-3c253562f58c", "slug": "modern-christianity-is-a-encyclopedia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian/modern-christianity-is-a-encyclopedia", "text": "Modern Christianity is a encyclopedia of traditional superstition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "Julian", "slug": "julian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "Christianity", "slug": "christianity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/christianity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#Julian_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:18" }, { "id": "efcea6e1-1ae5-4992-9e5f-b7f7b8b7372b", "slug": "i-have-a-foreboding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/i-have-a-foreboding", "text": "I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.", "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": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "the future", "slug": "the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "48dc9c61-eb26-43fc-a2ad-2a5d6dd066e8", "slug": "superstition-is-marked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/superstition-is-marked", "text": "Superstition is marked not by its pretension to a body of knowledge but by its method of seeking truth.", "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": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "01b11327-eca3-4890-87d4-77169d0d2d3b", "slug": "i-worry-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/i-worry-that", "text": "I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us-then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.", "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": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "d77e7988-9fbc-464c-80dd-8ea1bc4eb5e0", "slug": "those-afraid-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/those-afraid-of-the", "text": "Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.", "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": 332, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "2b918c99-fc1c-4a70-9c9a-ffdaf400d843", "slug": "is-it-really", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-gambler/is-it-really", "text": "Is it really not possible to touch the gaming table without being instantly infected by superstition?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Gambler", "slug": "the-gambler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-gambler" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "gambling", "slug": "gambling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/gambling" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Gambler_(1866)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:22" }, { "id": "a725a1a6-20f1-496a-8259-8bdc5e1d9558", "slug": "in-1976-dawn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/theft-by-finding/in-1976-dawn", "text": "In 1976 Dawn Erickson taught me that, in order to ensure good luck, you're supposed to say, \"Rabbit, rabbit,\" on the first day of every month. It has to be the very first thing that comes out of your mouth and you have to say it out loud or else it doesn't work. I'd never been particularly superstitious, but ever since she told me, I've made it a point to follow her example.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Sedaris", "slug": "david-sedaris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris" }, "book": { "title": "Theft by Finding", "slug": "theft-by-finding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/theft-by-finding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 412, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Sedaris#Theft_by_Finding:_Diaries,_Volume_1_(1977-2002)_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:59" }, { "id": "4ca5998a-1cc7-4639-a0b9-15eba0fdbcae", "slug": "instead-of-trying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/silas-marner/instead-of-trying", "text": "Instead of trying to still his fears he encouraged them, with that superstitious impression which clings to us all, that if we expect evil very strongly it is the less likely to come; . . .", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Silas Marner", "slug": "silas-marner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/silas-marner" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "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/George_Eliot#Silas_Marner:_The_Weaver_of_Raveloe_(1861)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:50" }, { "id": "1d903141-dd41-44ea-a14c-2fbd90106f68", "slug": "i-proceed-along", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-proceed-along", "text": "I proceed along the path which the force of circumstances compels me to tread, but I do not insist that my readers shall follow me. Long ago they have made up their minds that I am wandering in the land of chimeras, while for my part I think they are dwelling in the country of prejudice. When I wander so far from popular beliefs I do not cease to bear them in mind; I examine them, I consider them, not that I may follow them or shun them, but that I may weigh them in the balance of reason. Whenever reason compels me to abandon these popular beliefs, I know by experience that my readers will not follow my example; I know that they will persist in refusing to go beyond what they can see, and that they will take the youth I am describing for the creation of my fanciful imagination, merely because he is unlike the youths with whom they compare him; they forget that he must needs be different, because he has been brought up in a totally different fashion; he has been influenced by wholly different feelings, instructed in a wholly different manner, so that it would be far stranger if he were like your pupils than if he were what I have supposed. He is a man of nature's making, not man's. No wonder men find him strange. When I began this work I took for granted nothing but what could be observed as readily by others as by myself; for our starting-point, the birth of man, is the same for all; but the further we go, while I am seeking to cultivate nature and you are seeking to deprave it, the further apart we find ourselves. At six years old my pupil was not so very unlike yours, whom you had not yet had time to disfigure; now there is nothing in common between them; and when they reach the age of manhood, which is now approaching, they will show themselves utterly different from each other, unless all my pains have been thrown away. There may not be so very great a difference in the amount of knowledge they possess, but there is all the difference in the world in the kind of knowledge. You are amazed to find that the one has noble sentiments of which the others have not the smallest germ, but remember that the latter are already philosophers and theologians while Emile does not even know what is meant by a philosopher and has scarcely heard the name of God.", "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": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "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": "e8c99c49-ed58-4254-b60d-5ce8c1cf2e51", "slug": "and-yet-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/and-yet-what", "text": "And yet what dangerous prejudices are you implanting when you teach them to accept as knowledge words which have no meaning for them. The first meaningless phrase, the first thing taken for granted on the word of another person without seeing its use for himself, this is the beginning of the ruin of the child's judgment. He may dazzle the eyes of fools long enough before he recovers from such a loss.", "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": "words", "slug": "words", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:32" }, { "id": "da3e1375-a221-4234-87d6-46071d4c4e11", "slug": "we-are-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/we-are-born", "text": "We are born sensitive and from our birth onwards we are affected in various ways by our environment. As soon as we become conscious of our sensations we tend to seek or shun the things that cause them, at first because they are pleasant or unpleasant, then because they suit us or not, and at last because of judgments formed by means of the ideas of happiness and goodness which reason gives us. These tendencies gain strength and permanence with the growth of reason, but hindered by our habits they are more or less warped by our prejudices. Before this change they are what I call Nature within us.", "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": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "the senses", "slug": "the-senses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-senses" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:31" }, { "id": "03912bee-c189-463c-abdf-d4f455390fe8", "slug": "maybe-this-crime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/ficciones/maybe-this-crime", "text": "\"Maybe this crime belongs to the history of Jewish superstitions,\" murmmured Lönnrot. \"Like Christianity,\" the editor put in.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jorge Luis Borges", "slug": "jorge-luis-borges", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges" }, "book": { "title": "Ficciones", "slug": "ficciones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/ficciones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" }, { "name": "superstitions", "slug": "superstitions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/superstitions" }, { "name": "Christianity", "slug": "christianity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/christianity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges#Ficciones_(1944)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" } ] }