Quotes

Truth in matters of religion is simply the opinion that has survived.

The sciences are not sectarian. People do not persecute each other on account of disagreements in mathematics. Families are not divided about botany and astronomy does not even tend to make a man hate his father and mother. It is what people do not know that they persecute each other about. Science will bring, not a sword, but peace.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of rational decision, to drain people of their free will – and a hell of a lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.

The Bible and Church have been the greatest stumbling block in the way of women’s emancipation.

If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Hast thou reason? I have.
Why then dost not thou use it?
For if this does its own work,
what else dost thou wish?

It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.

It’s an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don’t try to make it posthumous.

Suppose we’ve chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we’re just making him madder and madder.

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

The intelligent beings in these regions should therefore not be surprised if they observe that their locality in the universe satisfies the conditions that are necessary for their existence. It is a bit like a rich person living in a wealthy neighborhood not seeing any poverty.

If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced.

Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

My mother was Southern Irish, and I was brought up as a devout Catholic. In fact, at one point I thought I’d become a priest, but I’d have made an appalling priest anyway… At 16, I asked all these monks some serious questions and they didn’t come up with the answers, and I just decided I didn’t believe in God.

No Gods – No Masters.

My mother was Southern Irish, and I was brought up as a devout Catholic. In fact, at one point I thought I’d become a priest, but I’d have made an appalling priest anyway… At 16, I asked all these monks some serious questions and they didn’t come up with the answers, and I just decided I didn’t believe in God.

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose.

It is usually when men are at their most religious that they behave with the least sense and the greatest cruelty.

That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that Christianity offers a way out.

Scientific research confirms that humans are a link in the evolutionary life chain. There is no credible evidence for the existence of an immortal supernatural element. Our only life is here and now. Make it worthy of a moral person.

At a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

To YOU I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the loyal opposition.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.