Atheist Quotes - Page 32

• Men tell us sometimes there is no such thing as an atheist. There must be. There are some men to whom it is true that there is no God. They cannot see God because they have no eye. They have only an abortive organ, atrophied by neglect.

  William Henry Drummond

  Eye, Men, Sometimes

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• I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.

  John Adams

  Believe, Fate, Men

  Letter to F. A. Van der Kemp, February 16, 1808.

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• The atheist, by merely being in touch with reality, appears shamefully out of touch with the fantasy life of his neighbors.

  Sam Harris

  Reality, Fantasy, Neighbor

  "There is No God (And You Know It)" by Sam Harris, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 6, 2005.

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• Mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity.

  John Adams

  Jesus, Faith Religion, Atheism

  Diary of John Adams, www.beliefnet.com. February 13, 1756.

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• Great Hypocrites are the real atheists.

  Francis Bacon

  Real, Hypocrite

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• To an even moderately sophisticated and well-read person it should come as no surprise that any religion at all has its hidden as well as its obvious beauties and is capable of profound and impressive interpretations. What is deeply objectionable about most of these interpretations is that they allow the believer to say Yes while evading any No.

  Walter Kaufmann

  Profound, Surprise, Sophisticated

  "The Faith of a Heretic" by Walter Kaufmann, 1959.

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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

  Book, Way, Needs

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

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• Hundreds of hysterical persons must confuse these phenomena with messages from the beyond and take their glory to the bishop rather than the eye doctor.

  James Thurber

  Eye, Doctors, Bishops

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• Those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all.

  John Locke

  Promise, Atheism, Covenant

  John Locke, David Wootton (1993). “Locke: Political Writings”, p.426, Hackett Publishing

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• Are you grown an atheist? Will you turn your body, Which is the goodly palace of the soul, To the soul's slaughter-house? Oh, the curse'  d devil, Which doth present us with all other sins Thrice-candied o'er.

  John Webster

  House, Soul, Devil

  1612 The White Devil, act 5, sc.6.

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• If there are atheists, who is to be blamed if not the mercenary tyrants of souls who, in revolting us against their swindles, compel some feeble spirits to deny the God whom these monsters dishonour?

  Voltaire

  Tyrants, Soul, Atheism

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• I'm an atheist .I was raised in British reform Judaism, which is not like American reform Judaism, much less any other strain of organised religion. So: no cults here.

  Charles Stross

  Reform, British, Judaism

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• I would not say that ethical behavior is not possible for the atheist or agnostic. It is. A couple of pretty good examples are Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre. However, I will have to say that if we take the human lot as a whole, these two men must be seen as exceptions.

  Huston Smith

  Couple, Men, Agnostic

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• The great tragedy of atheists is that they walk through this world and have no one to thank.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Tragedy, World, Walks

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• God knows, I'm not the thing I should be, Nor am I even the thing I could be, But twenty times I rather would be An atheist clean, Than under gospel colours hid be Just for a screen.

  Robert Burns

  Twenties, Would Be, Clean

  Robert Burns, James Currie (1847). “Works: With an Account of His Life and Criticism on His Writings, to which are Prefixed Some Observations on the Character and Condition of the Scottish Peasantry”, p.131

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• When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist, or an idealist; a Christian, or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last.

  Thomas Huxley

  Christian, Art, Maturity

  Thomas Henry Huxley (2012). “Collected Essays, Volume V Science and Christian Tradition: Essays”, p.237, tredition

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• I have a great respect for the flag, (but) if the government passed a law saying that I had to pledge allegiance to the flag, I don't think I would do it. I've always felt that I lived in a country...where if I wanted to worship God as a Baptist, I could do so. If I were an atheist, I could be one. If I wanted to be a Catholic but was born a Jew, there's no condemnation...from a government authority.

  Jimmy Carter

  Country, Thinking, Government

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• The list of things about which we strictly have to be agnostic doesn't stop at tooth fairies and celestial teapots. It is infinite. If you want to believe in a particular one of them - teapots, unicorns, or tooth fairies, Thor or Yahweh - the onus is on you to say why you believe in it. The onus is not on the rest of us to say why we do not. We who are atheists are also a-fairyists, a-teapotists, and a-unicornists, but we don't have to bother saying so.

  Richard Dawkins

  Believe, Want, Lists

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• Richard Dawkins says he can't be sure God doesn't exist. Well, you know what I do when I'm not sure about something? I go on a big crusade about it and write a bunch of books on the subject. No, wait, that sounds more like what someone with a mental disorder would do. That's one of the crazy things about lots of atheists: They're whole movement is supposed to be about being logical and reasonable, yet they tend to rail against religion is a very mindless way that doesn't seem to serve any more purpose than a tantrum. Perhaps I just don't understand their strong faith in not having faith.

  Frank J. Fleming

  Strong, Crazy, Book

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• So when people tell you, oh, you can't have the Ten Commandments on public property, they're just wrong. It's historically false. It's not true. Now, you can decide to invent a new America in which you shouldn't say "one nation under God" as part of the pledge because, after all, you will offend three atheists. But that's not the America you inherited. That's a different country. And I think it's a weaker country and I think it's a country that has no roots in terms of where its rights come from.

  Newt Gingrich

  Country, Thinking, America

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• Armstrong lives as he rides - surrounded by a cocoon of aides and helpers, his gimlet eyes focused on victory.... The self-described atheist has become a deity... but the inquiry's findings may cause the Armstrong faithful to ask, Was the miracle a mirage?

  Selena Roberts

  Eye, Self, Miracle

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• I’m an atheist, and I believe religion is totally against human rights and women’s rights.

  Taslima Nasrin

  Believe, Rights, Humans

  "Taslima Nasrin: “A Writer On Trial”". Interview with Kerry O'Brien, atheistfoundation.org.au. July 1995.

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• If you can remain as an atheist in a falling plane, then it means you are a real atheist!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Real, Fall, Mean

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• In the middle of the storm, the 'a' of the atheist drops!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Storm, Middle

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• Make a habit to remember God in your perfectly beautiful days, because in bad days even atheists do remember Him!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Beautiful, Bad Day, Remember

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