Superstitions Quotes - Page 29

• The difference between Carter and [Ted] Kennedy: Carter has this vague religion which he believes in strongly, while Kennedy has this strong religion which he believes in vaguely.

  Eugene McCarthy

  Strong, Believe, Differences

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• Christ...an anarchist who succeeded. That's all.

  Andre Malraux

  Belief, Anarchist, Christ

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• Rome has seven sacraments, but the Protestant churches, being less prosperous, feel that they can afford only two, and these of inferior sanctity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Rome, Two, Church

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2506, Delphi Classics

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• I cannot say for certain that God does not exist; I think the worst thing that can be said about him is that he's a bit of an underachiever.

  Woody Allen

  Thinking, Doe, Belief

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• I can see where influential people would like Maharishi better than Jesus. My God, if the Beatles and Mia Farrow went to Jesus, He'd tell them to give all their money away.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Jesus, Giving, People

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• Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.

  Francis Bacon

  Philosophy, Men, Order

  "Essays". Book by Francis Bacon. Chapter 17: "Of Superstition", 1625.

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• Superstition sets the whole world in flames, but philosophy douses them.

  Voltaire

  Philosophy, Flames, World

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• Whatever you do, trample down abuses, and love those who love you. Different translation: Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing superstition, and love those who love you.

  Voltaire

  Love, Crush, Abuse

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• The master of superstition, is the people; and in all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.

  Francis Bacon

  Wise, Men, Order

  Francis Bacon, William Rawley (1858). “The Works of Francis Bacon”, p.416

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• The most transformative experiences people have - bliss, devotion, self transcendence - are currently anchored to the worst parts of culture and to ways of thinking that merely amplify superstition, self-deception, and conflict.

  Sam Harris

  Thinking, Self, People

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• All superstition is much the same whether it be that of astrology, dreams, omen, retributive judgment, or the like, in all of which the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more common.

  Francis Bacon

  Dream, Astrology, Events

  Francis Bacon (2016). “Novum Organum”, p.13, Jazzybee Verlag

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• In all superstition wise men follow fools.

  Francis Bacon

  Wise, Men, Fool

  1625 Essays, no.17,'Of Superstition'.

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• There is superstition in avoiding superstition.

  Francis Bacon

  Avoiding

  'Essays' (1625) 'Of Superstition'

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• If the decline of Christianity created the modern political zealot - and his crimes - so the evaporation of religious faith among the educated left a vacuum in the minds of Western intellectuals easily filled by secular superstition. There is no other explanation for the credulity with which scientists, accustomed to evaluating evidence, and writers, whose whole function was to study and criticize society, accepted the crudest Stalinist propaganda at its face value. They needed to believe; they wanted to be duped.

  Paul Johnson

  Religious, Believe, Political

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• What is superstition , but misguided, unobjective science? And when it comes down to that, is it to be wondered if people grasp at superstition in this rotten, hate-filled, half-doomed world of today? Lord knows, I'd welcome the blackest of black magic, if it could do anything to stave off the atom bomb.

  Fritz Leiber

  Hate, People, Magic

  Fritz Leiber (2014). “Conjure Wife”, p.18, Open Road Media

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• Before I came along, my field was dominated by myth, superstition, deceit, and outright fraud. I overcame it by the simple application of logical thinking.

  Arthur Jones

  Simple, Thinking, Investing

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• It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would set aside all the intellectual progress of years, and plunge us back into the darkness of mediaeval disbelief.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  Ignorance, Men, Years

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• If cathedrals had been universities If dungeons of the Inquisition had been laboratories If Christians had believed in character instead of creed If they had taken from the bible only that which is GOOD and thrown away the wicked and absurd If temple domes had been observatories If priests had been philosophers If missionaries had taught useful arts instead of bible lore If astrology had been astronomy If the black arts had been chemistry If superstition had been science If religion had been humanity The world then would be a heaven filled with love, and liberty and joy

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Christian, Art, Taken

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• Let’s be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can’t be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America’s campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who’re supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?

  Charlton Heston

  Believe, Mean, Thinking

  "Why Johnny can't disobey" by Sarah J. McCarthy, www.wnd.com. March 20, 1999.

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• One of the most obtuse superstitions is the superstition of the scientists who say that man can exist without faith.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Men, Scientist

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• You know, Tolstoy, like myself, wasn't taken in by superstitions like science and medicine.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Taken, Medicine, Knows

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• Religion and natural science are fighting a joint battle in an incessant, never-relaxing crusade against skepticism and dogmatism, against disbelief and against superstition, and the rallying cry in this crusade has always been, and will always be, 'On to God.'

  Max Planck

  Fighting, Rallying Cry, Battle

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• Since the building of Constantinople, and the removal of the seat of government to that city, no political quarrel separated Rome from Egypt. Pagan Rome, ever since the union of the two countries under Augustus, except when interrupted by the rebellions, had been eagerly copying the superstitions of Egypt, and Christian Rome still followed the same course.

  Samuel Sharpe

  Christian, Country, Cities

  Samuel Sharpe (1896). “Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity: With Their Influence on the Opinions of Modern Christendom”

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• One of my superstitions is I'm not allowed to talk about them.

  Nomar Garciaparra

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• One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go anywhere or do anything, not to turn back, or stop until the thing intended was accomplished. I have frequently started to go places where I had never been and to which I did not know the way, depending upon making inquiries on the road, and if I got past the place without knowing it, instead of turning back, I would go until a road was found turning in the right direction, take that, and come in by the other side.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  Past, Knowing, Inquiry

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