Atheist Quotes - Page 36

• There is no indisputable proof for the big bang," said Hollus. "And there is none for evolution. And yet you accept those. Why hold the question of whether there is a creator to a higher standard?

  Robert J. Sawyer

  Atheism, Bangs, Evolution

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• There are, as we know, powerful and illustrious atheists. At bottom, led back to the truth by their very force, they are not absolutely sure that they are atheists; it is with them only a question of definition, and in any case, if they do not believe in God, being great minds, they prove God.

  Victor Hugo

  Powerful, Believe, Mind

  Victor Hugo (2010). “The Works of Victor Hugo”, p.1176, BookCaps Study Guides

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• Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought.

  Mark Twain

  Atheism, Vagrants, Forlorn

  The Mysterious Stranger ch. 11 (1916)

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• Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority. But a good first step would be to build up a critical mass of those willing to 'come out,' thereby encouraging others to do so. Even if they can't be herded, cats in sufficient numbers can make a lot of noise and they cannot be ignored.

  Richard Dawkins

  Cat, Thinking, Numbers

  Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.27, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• It's a curious thing in American life that the most abject nonsense will be excused if the utterer can claim the sanction of religion. A country which forbids an established church by law is prey to any denomination. The best that can be said is that this is pluralism of a kind.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Country, Law, Pluralism Is

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• I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.

  Isaac Asimov

  Spiritual, Philosophy, Believe

  Isaac Asimov (2009). “I, Asimov: A Memoir”, p.32, Bantam

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• The atheism and nihilism of my earlier years now seems shallow, and even a bit cocky.

  Anne Rice

  Cocky, Years, Atheism

  Anne Rice (1997). “Memnoch the Devil”, Random House Digital, Inc.

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• Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Believe, Men, Miracle

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2011). “The Brothers Karamazov”, p.442, Bantam Classics

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• The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.

  Pema Chodron

  Buddhist, Believe, Differences

  Pema Chodron (2000). “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times”, p.51, Shambhala Publications

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• Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Sacrifice, Law, Inevitable Death

  "Facing Death, Christopher Hitchens Affirms Atheism" by Ethan Cole, www.christianpost.com. April 25, 2011.

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• If God were alive today, He'd be an atheist.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Alive, Today, Ifs

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• There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes.

  Erica Jong

  Airplane

  FaceBook post by Erica Jong from Sep 28, 2012

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• I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.

  Albert Einstein

  Lying, June, If There Is A God

  Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr., July 2, 1945.

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• She flashes me a smile so devastating that it could even make an atheist believe in God.

  Sonya Sones

  Believe, Believe In God, Flash

  Sonya Sones (2007). “What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know”, p.175, Simon and Schuster

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• On the Disc the gods dealt severely with atheists.

  Terry Pratchett

  Atheism, Discs, Rincewind

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Colour Of Magic: (Discworld Novel 1)”, p.259, Random House

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• A god who is capable of sending intelligible signals to millions of people simultaneously, and of receiving messages from all of them simultaneously, cannot be, whatever else he might be, simple. Such Bandwidth!

  Richard Dawkins

  Simple, People, Atheism

  Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.184, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If you're an atheist, you know, you believe, this is the only life you're going to get. It's a precious life. It's a beautiful life. Its something we should live to the full, to the end of our days. Where if you're religious and you believe in another life somehow, that means you don't live this life to the full because you think you're going to get another one. That's an awfully negative way to live a life. Being a atheist frees you up to live this life properly, happily and fully

  Richard Dawkins

  Beautiful, Religious, Believe

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• I am, indeed, an absolute materialist so far as actual belief goes; with not a shred of credence in any form of supernaturalism—religion, spiritualism, transcendentalism, metempsychosis, or immortality.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  Psychosis, Atheism, Belief

  H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard (2011). “Mythos: The Myths and Tales of H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard”, p.73, Numen Books

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• It is straightforward — and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion.

  Martin Amis

  Mind, Atheism, Given

  "The voice of the lonely crowd" by Martin Amis, www.theguardian.com. May 31, 2002.

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• The highest praise of God consists in the denial of him by the atheist who finds creation so perfect that it can dispense with a creator.

  Marcel Proust

  Perfect, Denial, Praise

  Le Cote de Guermantes (The GuermantesWay) pt. 2 (1921) (translation by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin)

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• We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a ‘higher answer’– but none exists

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Years, Ice, Religion

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• Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade.

  Ayn Rand

  Law, Atheism, Congress

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.893, Hamilton Books

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• However modest one may be in one's demand for intellectual cleanliness, one cannot help feeling, when coming into contact with the New Testament, a kind of inexpressible discomfiture: for the unchecked impudence with which the least qualified want to raise their voice on the greatest problems, and even claim to be judges of such things, surpasses all measure. The shameless levity with which the most intractable problems (life, world, God, purpose of life) are spoken of, as if they were not problems at all but simply things that these little bigots knew!

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Voice, Judging, Feelings

  "The Will to Power".

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• It's not arrogant to say that you can't figure out the answers to the universe with your internal faith. It's not arrogant to know that there's no omniscient, omnipotent prime mover in the universe who loves you personally. It's not sad to feel that life and the love of your real friends and family is more than enough to make life worth living. Isn't it much sadder to feel that there is a more important love required than the love of the people who have chosen to spend their limited time with you?

  Penn Jillette

  Real, Love You, People

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• First the priests arrive. Then the conquistadores.

  James Clavell

  Atheism, Firsts, Shoguns

  James Clavell (2009). “Shogun”, p.507, Dell

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