Sam Harris Quotes - Page 10

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I am one of the few people I know of who has argued in print that torture may be an ethical necessity in our war on terror.

Sam Harris

War, People, May

"In Defense of Torture" by Sam Harris, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 17, 2005.

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It seems to me patently obvious that we can no more respect and tolerate vast differences in notions of human well-being than we can respect or tolerate vast differences in the notions about how disease spreads, or in the safety standards of buildings and airplanes.

Sam Harris

Motivation, Inspiration, Airplane

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Death is, in some ways, unacceptable. It's just an astonishing fact of our being here that we die; but I think worse than that is if we live long enough, we lose everyone we love in this world. I mean people die and disappear, and we're left with this stark mystery: just the sheer not knowing of what happened to them.

Sam Harris

Mean, Thinking, Knowing

"Sam Harris On Death". Big Think, July 4, 2007.

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Meditation puts into question more or less everything you tend to do in your search for happiness. But if you lose sight of this, it can become just another strategy for seeking happiness - a more refined version of the problem you already have.

Sam Harris

Sight, Meditation, Problem

"Taming the Mind". Interview with with Dan Harris, samharris.org. September 17, 2014.

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Of course, the liar often imagines that he does no harm as long as his lies go undetected.

Sam Harris

Liars, Lying, Long

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Spiritual life can certainly follow the pattern one sees in the fake martial arts, with most teachers making nebulous and magical claims that never get tested, while their students derange themselves with weird ideas, empty rituals, and other affectations.

Sam Harris

Spiritual, Teacher, Art

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Human experience depends on everything that can influence states of the human brain, ranging from changes in our genome to changes in the global economy.

Sam Harris

Brain, Influence, Economy

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The problem of human suffering is never too much rational thinking, or too high a demand for evidence. But the solutions are. ... Reason is nothing less than the guardian of love.

Sam Harris

Thinking, Suffering, Demand

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Needless to say, this would be an unthinkable crime—as it would kill tens of millions of innocent civilians in a single day—but it may be the only course of action available to us, given what Islamists believe

Sam Harris

Believe, May, Would Be

Sam Harris (2005). “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason”, p.129, W. W. Norton & Company

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The problem that religious moderation poses for all of us is that it does not permit anything very critical to be said about religious literalism.

Sam Harris

Religious, Doe, Problem

Sam Harris (2005). “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason”, p.20, W. W. Norton & Company

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The problem I want to talk to you about tonight is the problem of belief. What does it mean to believe? We use this word all the time, and I think behind it lurk some really extraordinary taboos and confusions. What I want to argue tonight is that how we talk about belief- how we fail to criticize or criticize the beliefs of others, has more importance to us personally, more consequence to us personally and to civilization than perhaps anything else that is in our power to influence.

Sam Harris

Atheist, Believe, Mean

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I think it [getting a gun] should be like getting a pilot's license. I think you should require training to get a license to have a gun.

Sam Harris

Gun, Thinking, Training

"Real Time with Bill Maher", February 1, 2013.

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Where we have reasons for what we believe, we have no need of faith; where we have no reasons, we have lost both our connection to the world and to one another.

Sam Harris

Atheist, Believe, Connections

"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason". Book by Sam Harris, 2004.

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In my own case, the most inflammatory statements I have ever made are ones that I have written and remain willing to defend.

Sam Harris

Made, Cases, Willing

"The Perils of the Print Interview" by Sam Harris, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 24, 2011.

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The principal tenet of Jainism is non-harming. Observant Jains will literally not harm a fly. Fundamentalist Jainism and fundamentalist Islam do not have the same consequences, neither logically nor behaviorally.

Sam Harris

Islam, Harm, Jainism

"Q&A with Sam Harris". Article on the official site samharris.org, 2005.

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All I'm arguing for really is that we should have a conversation where the best ideas really thrive, where there's no taboo against criticizing bad ideas, and where everyone who shows up, in order to get their ideas entertained, has to meet some obvious burdens of intellectual rigor and self-criticism and honesty-and when people fail to do that, we are free to stop listening to them. What religion has had up until this moment is a different set of rules that apply only to it, which is you have to respect my religious certainty even though I'm telling you I arrived at it irrationally.

Sam Harris

Religious, Honesty, Self

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If we cannot find our way to a time when most of us are willing to admit that, at the very least, we are not sure whether or not God wrote some of our books, then we need only count the days to Armageddon-because God has given us far many more reasons to kill one another than to turn the other cheek.

Sam Harris

Atheist, Book, Way

Sam Harris (2005). “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason”, p.35, W. W. Norton & Company

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Take a moment to reflect upon the existence of the musical The Book of Mormon. Now imagine the security precautions that would be required to stage a similar production about Islam. The project is unimaginable—not only in Beirut, Baghdad, or Jerusalem, but in New York City.

Sam Harris

New York, Book, Cities

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Strange bonds of trust and self-deception tend to grow between journalists and their subjects.

Sam Harris

Self, Deception, Strange

Sam Harris (2013). “Lying”, p.80, Four Elephants Press

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Each increment of knowledge imparted in this way is so satisfying-and one's ignorance at every stage so consequential-that the process of learning BJJ can become remarkably addictive. I have never experienced anything quite like it.

Sam Harris

Ignorance, Mma, Way

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The fact that one can lose one's sense of self in an ocean of tranquility does not mean that one's consciousness is immaterial or that it presided over the birth of the universe.

Sam Harris

Ocean, Mean, Self

"On Spiritual Truths" by Sam Harris, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 16, 2011.

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It is easy to see what many people, women especially, admire about Sarah Palin. Here is a mother of five who can see the bright side of having a child with Down syndrome and still find the time and energy to govern the state of Alaska.

Sam Harris

Mother, Children, Alaska

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To treat others ethically is to act out of concern for their happiness and suffering.

Sam Harris

Suffering, Morality, Treats

Sam Harris (2005). “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason”, p.186, W. W. Norton & Company

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And while Protestant reformers broke with Rome on a variety of counts, their treatment of their fellow human beings was no less disgraceful. Public executions were more popular than ever: heretics were still reduced to ash, scholars were tortured and killed for impertinent displays of reason, and fornicators were murdered without a qualm.

Sam Harris

Rome, Religion, Ashes

Sam Harris (2005). “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason”, p.86, W. W. Norton & Company

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Born: April 9, 1967
Occupation: Author
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