Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by William Kingdon Clifford

Quote by William Kingdon Clifford

“It cannot be doubted that theistic belief is a comfort and a solace to those who hold it, and that the loss of it is a very painful loss. It cannot be doubted, at least, by many of us in this generation, who either profess it now, or received it in our childhood and have parted from it since with such searching trouble as only cradle-faiths can cause. We have seen the spring sun shine out of an empty heaven, to light up a soulless earth; we have felt with utter loneliness that the Great Companion is dead.”

Quote by William Kingdon Clifford

Work

The Ethics of Belief and Other Essays

This book is a compilation of essays that delve into the philosophical underpinnings of belief, examining its role in ethical decision-making and the broader implications of holding certain beliefs. The essays within explore various aspects of belief, including its formation, justification, and the ethical responsibilities associated with it. more

Author

William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford

William Kingdon Clifford was a British mathematician and philosopher, born on May 4, 1845, and died on March 3, 1879. He made significant contributions to the fields of geometry and algebra in mathematics. more

You May Also Like

“The defenders of godism are now shrieking against the growing number of Atheists, and there is a call to the religious world to enter upon a crusade against Atheism. The stage in which heresy meant little more than all exchange of one god for another has passed. It has become a case of acceptance or rejection of the idea of God, and the growth is with those who reject.”

“But there are still many who continue to marvel at the wisdom of God in so planning the universe that big rivers run by great towns, and that death comes at the end of life instead of in the middle of it. Divest pleas ... of their semi-philosophic jargon, reduce his illustrations to homely similes, and he is marvelling at the wisdom of God who so planned things that the two extremities of a piece of wood should come at the ends instead of in the middle.”

“It is useless saying that we do not accept the gods of the primitive world. In form, no; in essence, yes. The fact before us is that all ideas of gods can be traced to the earliest stages of human history.... There is an unbroken line of descent linking the gods of the most primitive peoples to those of modern man. We reject the world of the savage; but we still, in our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, perpetuate the theories he built upon that world.”