Quotessence
Home / Authors / Sam Harris
Sam Harris

Sam Harris Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleWorldReligionBelieveHumansReligiousIfsAtheismAtheistReasonThinkingBeliefEvidenceProblemHuman BeingsShouldFactsMoralitySufferingWay

Famous Sam Harris Quotes

“There is a sense in which all cognition can be said to be motivated. One is motivated to understand the world, to be in touch with reality, to remove doubt, etc. Alternately one might say that motivation is an aspect of cognition itself. Nevertheless, motives like wanting to find the truth, not wanting to be mistaken, etc., tend to align with epistemic goals in a way that many other commitments do not. As we have begun to see, all reasoning may be inextricable from emotion. But if a person's primary motivation in holding a belief is to hue to a positive state of mind, to mitigate feelings of anxiety, embarrassment, or guilt for instance. This is precisely what we mean by phrases like "wishful thinking", and "self-deception". Such a person will of necessity be less responsive to valid chains of evidence and argument that run counter to the beliefs he is seeking to maintain. To point out non-epistemic motives in an others view of the world, therefore, is always a criticism, as it serves to cast doubt on a persons connection to the world as it is.”

MotivationReligionEmotionMoralityCognition
Book:The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values
Create image

“If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Once again, we need look no further than the Jains: Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: 'Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.' Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible.”

MoralityScriptureCommandmentsTen CommandmentsJainismMahavira
Book:Letter to a Christian Nation
Create image

“I consistently encounter people in academic settings and scientists and journalists who feel that you can't say that anyone is wrong in any deep sense about morality, or with regard to what they value in life. I think this doubt about the application of science and reason to questions of value is really quite dangerous.”

PeopleThinkingFeelsReasonValuesDoubtDangerousMoralityScientistRegardSettingSettingsJournalistEncountersApplicationAcademicConsistentlyValue Of Life
Author:Sam Harris
Create image

“Human well-being is not a random phenomenon. It depends on many factors - ranging from genetics and neurobiology to sociology and economics. But, clearly, there are scientific truths to be known about how we can flourish in this world. Wherever we can have an impact on the well-being of others, questions of morality apply.”

WorldHumansWellsKnownEconomicThis WorldDependsMoralityEconomicsImpactFactorsWell BeingPhenomenonSociologyGeneticsScientific TruthNeurobiology
Author:Sam Harris
Create image

“There must be right and wrong answers to questions of morality and values that potentially fall within the purview of science. On this view, some people and cultures will be right (to a greater or lesser degree), and some will be wrong, with respect to what they deem important in life.”

PeopleImportantValuesFallCultureAnswersViewsGreaterMoralityDegreesWrong Answers
Book:The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values
Create image

“It is rather more noble to help people purely out of concern for their suffering than it is to help them because you think the Creator of the Universe wants you to do it, or will reward you for doing it, or will punish you for not doing it. The problem with this linkage between religion and morality is that it gives people bad reasons to help other human beings when good reasons are available.”

PeopleThinkingWantGivingHumansReasonHelpingProblemSufferingUniverseHuman BeingsMoralityConcernRewardsCreatorAvailableNobleHelping OthersLinkages
Author:Sam Harris
Create image

“We read the Golden Rule and judge it to be a brilliant distillation of many of our ethical impulses. And then we come across another of God’s teachings on morality: if a man discovers on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he must stone her to death on her father’s doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21).”

IfsMenNightFatherTeachingJudgingMoralityStonesBrilliantGoldenImpulseEthicalVirginsBridesGolden RuleDoorstepWedding NightDistillation
Author:Sam Harris
Create image

“We can either have a twenty-first-century conversation about morality and the human well-being - a conversation in which we avail ourselves of all scientific insights and philosophical arguments that have accumulated in the last two thousand years of human discourse - or we can confine ourselves to a first-century conversation as it is preserved in the Bible.”

YearsFirstsHumansWellsTwoLastsCenturyMoralityThousandConversationArgumentTwentiesPhilosophicalInsightWell BeingThousand YearsDiscourse
Author:Sam Harris
Create image