Quotessence
Home / Authors / Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Madalyn Murray O'Hair Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllChurchIfsAtheistMenAtheismWantBelieveShouldWellsPeopleReligionFeelsKnowsLongSexThinkingHas BeensHumansWould BeYears

Famous Madalyn Murray O'Hair Quotes

“At no time have I ever said that people should be stripped of their right to the insanity of belief in God. If they want to practice this kind of irrationality, that's their business. It won't get them anywhere; it certainly won't make them happier or more compassionate human beings; but if they want to chew that particular cud. they're welcome to it.”

PeopleIfsWantShouldHumansKindSaidBeliefHuman BeingsPracticeAtheismParticularWelcomeInsanityCompassionateBelief In GodIrrationality
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“If anybody wants to engage in any kind of sexual activity with any consenting partner, that is their business. Anybody can do anything they damn well please, as long as the relationship isn't exploitive. And I don't feel that legality should have anything to do with it. There are certain bodily functions of mine which I will not allow to be supervised.”

IfsWantFeelsShouldWellsKindLongCertainCan DoMinesPleaseActivityShould HaveFunctionSexualityPartnersDamnLegalityBodily Functions
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“One of the things I did during my 17 years as a psychiatric social worker was go around and find people with mental crutches, and every time I found one, I kicked those goddamn crutches until they flew. You know what happened? Every single one of those people has been able to walk without the crutches better, in fact. Were they giving up anything intrinsically valuable? Just their irrational reliance upon superstitions and supernatural nonsense. Perhaps this sort of claptrap was good for the Stone Age, when people actually believed that if they prayed for rain they would get it.”

PeopleIfsKnowsGivingYearsHas BeensFactsAgeAbleFoundSocialWalksHappenedGiving UpRainStonesWorkersValuableNonsenseSuperstitionsIrrationalRelianceFlewSocial WorkerCrutchesPsychiatricStone Age
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“I was about 12 or 13 years old. I picked up the Bible and read it from cover to cover one weekend ,just as if it were a novel, very rapidly, and I've never gotten over the shock of it. The miracles, the inconsistencies, the improbabilities, the impossibilities, the wretched history, the sordid sex, the sadism in it - the whole thing shocked me profoundly.”

IfsYearsWholeSexNovelMiracleShockWeekendShockedImpossibilityWretchedInconsistencySadismImprobability
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“If any one age could be singled out as the worst in the history of Christendom, it would be the administration of Pope Pius XII, the most reactionary head of the most reactionary single force in the world - a force that binds men's minds, a force that divides them, a force that chains them so that they are unable to think and act for themselves.”

IfsThinkingMenWorldMindWould BeAgeForceWorstChainsAdministrationDividesPopeReactionariesChristendom
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“If a humanist or an atheist or an agnostic says, "We'll bake you a pie," we can go right into the kitchen and bake it, and you can eat it an hour later. We don't promise you a pie in the sky by and by. It's charlatanry to promise people something that no one can be sure will ever be delivered. But it's even worse to offer people a reward, like children, for being good, and to threaten them with punishment if they're not.”

PeopleIfsChildrenHoursSkyPromiseOffersRewardsAtheistBe GoodPunishmentKitchenHumanistPieAgnostic
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“I decided that if nobody else was going to do anything to rectify this colossal inequity in taxation, I'd have to do it myself. So I instituted a suit against the city of Baltimore demanding that the city assessor be specifically ordered to assess the Church for its vast property holdings in the city, and that the city tax collector then be instructed to collect the taxes once the assessment has been made.”

IfsHas BeensMadeChurchCitiesTaxesDecidedPropertySuitsTaxationCollectorsAssessmentBaltimoreColossalRectify
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“If you're talking about intellectual and social equality for women, we're not much better off.America is still very much a male-dominated society. Most American men feel threatened sexually unless they're taller than the female, more intellectual, better educated, better paid and higher placed statuswise in the business world. They've got to be the authority, the final word.”

IfsMenWorldFeelsStillsAmericaSocialTalkingHigherAuthorityIntellectualFemalePaidMalesFinalsEducatedThreatenedBetter OffSexuallyBusiness WorldWomen EqualityFinal WordsSocial Equality
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“I need somebody who can at least stand up to me and slug it out, toe to toe. I don't mean a physical battle. I mean a man who would lay me, and when he was done, I'd say: "Oh, brother, I've been laid." Or if we had an argument, he would stand up and engage in intellectual combat and not go off and mope in the corner, or take reprisals, or go to drink.”

IfsMenNeedsMeanDoneBrotherDrinkBattleIntellectualArgumentLaysCornersCombatToesSlugsReprisal
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“Kids should be taught about sex, sex hygiene and contraceptive methods starting in the sixth grade, and whenever they want to try it, they should be allowed to go at it without supervision or restriction -in their parents' bedroom, on the grass in a park, in a motel; it doesn't matter, as long as the setting is private and pleasant. If we did all this, our kids would grow up into happier, healthier human beings. But we won't, of course. It would make too much sense.”

IfsWantShouldTryingHumansLongMatterKidsCoursesSexGrowsParentHuman BeingsGrowing UpToo MuchTaughtMethodStartingSettingSettingsGrassPleasantParksGradesBedroomRestrictionHygieneSupervisionContraceptivesSixth GradeMotels
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image

“If anybody wants to engage in any kind of sexual activity with any consenting partner, that is their business. I don't feel that I can sit in judgment on them, or that society can sit in judgment on them. Anybody can do anything they damn well please, as long as the relationship isn't exploitive. And I don't feel that legality should have anything to do with it.”

IfsWantFeelsShouldWellsKindLongI CanCan DoPleaseActivityJudgmentShould HavePartnersDamnLegality
Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Create image