Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

“Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.”

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Create image

Author

Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was an English-American author, journalist, and social critic. He was known for his sharp wit and controversial views, particularly on religion and politics. Hitchens was a prominent figure in the public discourse of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. more

You May Also Like

“No, nothing is sacred. And even if there were to be something called sacred, we mere primates wouldn't be able to decide which book or which idol or which city was the truly holy one. Thus, the only thing that should be upheld at all costs and without qualification is the right of free expression, because if that goes, then so do all other claims of right as well.”

IfsShouldWellsBookAbleCitiesExpressionHolyCostClaimsSacredMereIdolsQualificationsPrimatesFree Expression
Author:Christopher Hitchens
Create image

“The crucial distinction between systems...was no longer ideological. The main political difference was between those who did, and those who did not, believe that the citizen could -- or should -- be the property of the state.”

ShouldBelieveStatesPoliticalDifferencesCitizensPropertyDistinctionCrucialIndividualismIdeologicalPolitical Differences
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
Create image

“To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness.”

Would BeRunningFilmTermLevelsMoralPiecesRiskExerciseObviousCrowdsCrapDiscourseRise AboveSeriousnessSinisterRespectabilityFrivolity
Author:Christopher Hitchens
Create image

“Whenever I hear some bigmouth in Washington or the Christian heartland banging on about the evils of sodomy or whatever, I mentally enter his name in my notebook and contentedly set my watch. Sooner rather than later, he will be discovered down on his weary and well-worn old knees in some dreary motel or latrine, with an expired Visa card, having tried to pay well over the odds to be peed upon by some Apache transvestite.”

WellsChristianEvilNamesPayWatchesCardsKneesOddsWornWearyNotebookDrearyVisaBangingMotelsExpiredTransvestites
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
Create image