There was once a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations who can only be held in check through the extension of governmental power.
[Theodore Roosevelt, address in San Francisco, September 14, 1912]
The delegates of the annual conference are decidedly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave in the slave-holding states of the union.
[Methodist Episcopal Church, Statement of the General Conference, Cincinnati, May 1836]
It seems to me that one of the prime jobs of every educated man on this earth is to denounce charlatans. New ones are always popping up, and the common run of idiots are always succumbing to them. There is little if any difference between one and another.
[H.L. Mencken]
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
[Paul Krugman]
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Article 11, The Treaty of Tripoli ("Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary"), signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796, ratified by the U.S. Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by President John Adams on June 10, 1797. The Senate ratification was only the third recorded unanimous vote ever made by that body.
Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
[Nora Ephron]
To affirm that the Sun … is at the centre of the universe and only rotates on its axis without going from east to west, is a very dangerous attitude and one calculated not only to arouse all Scholastic philosophers and theologians but also to injure our holy faith by contradicting the Scriptures.
[Cardinal Bellarmino, 17th Century Church Master Collegio Romano, who imprisoned and tortured Galileo for his astronomical works]
In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time someting like that happened in politics or religion.
[Carl Sagan]
In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
[Hunter S. Thompson]
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.
[Robert Green Ingersoll]
God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macetated egos; He will set them above their better.
[H.L. Mencken]
In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.
[Sam Harris]
Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha
Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
[Henry Miller]
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
[Leonard Cohen]
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia.
[Charles Schultz]
If there be gods we cannot help them, but we can assist our fellow-men. We cannot love the inconceivable, but we can love wife and child and friend.
[Robert Green Ingersoll]
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
[Albert Einstein, in a letter March 24, 1954]
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.
[Carl Sagan]
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the Trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.
[Thomas Jefferson]
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
[Friedrich Nietzsche]
Things are the way they are because they got that way.
[Gerald Weinberg]
We must respect the other fellow's religion,but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.”
[H.L. Mencken]
Homosexuality is found in over 450 species. Homophobia is found in only one. Which one seems unnatural now?
[Chad Aldridge]
In fact, ”atheism” is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a “non-astrologer” or a “non-alchemist.” We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.
[Sam Harris]
To affirm that the Sun … is at the centre of the universe and only rotates on its axis without going from east to west, is a very dangerous attitude and one calculated not only to arouse all Scholastic philosophers and theologians but also to injure our holy faith by contradicting the Scriptures.
[Cardinal Bellarmino, 17th Century Church Master Collegio Romano, who imprisoned and tortured Galileo for his astronomical works]
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
[attributed to Epicurus (341 BCE – 270 BCE)]
But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.
[Benjamin Franklin, in "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" (first English publication, 1793)]
