Cult Quotes

• A cult is a religion with no political power.

  Tom Wolfe

  Religious, Philosophy, Power

  In Our Time ch. 2 (1980) See Feibleman 1

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• The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own.

  Frank Zappa

  Atheist, Real, Differences

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• A delusion held by one person is a mental illness, held by a few is a cult, held by many is a religion.

  Robert Todd Carroll

  Anarchy, Mental Illness, Delusion

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• Our whole educational and cultural system is not designed to provide those intellectual tools, so people are often lost and the internet often becomes kind of a cult generator.

  Noam Chomsky

  Educational, People, Intellectual

  Interview with Jegan Vincent de Paul, chomsky.info. August 15, 2012.

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• People under the influence of cults is similar to that we observe in addicts. Typical behaviour for both includes draining bank accounts, neglecting children, destroying relations with family and losing interest in anything except the drug or cult.

  Keith Henson

  Children, People, Drug

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• The less reasonable a cult is, the more men seek to establish it by force.

  Jean-Baptiste Rousseau

  Men, Political, Atheism

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• It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creeds into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Law, Political, Mind

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• I have often thought that the difference between a cult and a religion is an IRS ruling.

  Ron Barrier

  Religious, Differences, Irs

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• Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Men, Progress, Looks

  "What's Wrong with the World" by G. K. Chesterton, (Part One: The Homelessness Of Man, Ch. 4), 1910.

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• There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

  Isaac Asimov

  Ignorance, Mean, Democracies Have

  "A Cult of Ignorance". Newsweek, January 21, 1980.

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• It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Inspirational, Life, War

  Robert A. Heinlein (2014). “Revolt in 2100”, p.124, Hachette UK

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• If you want to fight a cult, you've got to form a cult.

  Steve Almond

  Fighting, Want, Form

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Many cults start off with high ideals that get corrupted by leaders or their board of advisors who become power-hungry and dominate and control members lives. No group with high ideals starts off as a cult; they become one when their errant ways are exposed.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Leader, Boards, Way

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• One person's religion is another person's cult.

  Philip Seymour Hoffman

  Persons

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• It is not the evil itself which is horrifying about our times – it is the way we not only tolerate evil, but have made a cult of positively worshipping weakness, depravity, rottenness and evil itself.

  George Lincoln Rockwell

  Evil, Way, Weakness

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• In a cult intervention information is presented about the group that the member is most often not aware of.

  Rick Ross

  Groups, Information, Members

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• The cult of moral grayness is a revolt against moral values.

  Ayn Rand

  Moral, Revolt, Values

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.74, Penguin

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• I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.

  Rita Rudner

  Dog, Witty, Religious

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• Being a rock star is like being a cult leader - you really have to be in your own religion.

  Courtney Love

  Stars, Being In Love, Reality

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• If a spiritual teacher says something that doesn't make sense to you, you should always listen to yourself and not the teacher. A little common sense would end all cults.

  Frederick Lenz

  Spiritual, Teacher, Common Sense

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• Mother goddesses are just as silly a notion as father gods. If a revival of the myths of these cults gives woman emotional satisfaction, it does so at the price of obscuring the real conditions of life. This is why they were invented in the first place.

  Angela Carter

  Life, God, Mother

  Angela Carter (2015). “The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History”, p.7, Hachette UK

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• There is a great interest in comparative religion and a desire to understand faiths other than our own and even to experiment with exotic cults.

  Emily Greene Balch

  Desire, Exotic, Interest

  Emily Greene Balch (1972). “Beyond Nationalism: The Social Thought of Emily Greene Balch”, New York : Twayne Publishers

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• It is the cult of self that is killing the United States. This cult has within it the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm, grandiosity and self-importance ; a need for constant stimulation; a penchant for lying, deception and manipulation; and the incapacity for remorse or guilt.

  Chris Hedges

  Lying, Self, Deception

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• Modern society has not rid itself of religion, as it fondly believes; it has merely replaced the historical religions by a host of idolatrous cults struggling for possession of the soul of man.

  Will Herberg

  Believe, Struggle, Men

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• Here's an easy way to figure out if you're in a cult: If you're wondering whether you're in a cult, the answer is yes.

  Stephen Colbert

  Answers, Way, Wonder

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