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Quote by Ethan Allen

“Those who invalidate reason, ought seriously to consider, 'whether they argue against reason, with or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle, that they are laboring to dethrone;' but if they argue without reason, (which, in order to be consistent with themselves, they must do,) they are out of the reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument.”

Book:Reason the Only Oracle of Man: Or a Compendious System of Natural Religion

Work

Reason the Only Oracle of Man: Or a Compendious System of Natural Religion

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Author

Ethan Allen

Ethan Allen, an American writer born on January 21, 1738, and died on February 12, 1789, is known for his descriptions of early American frontier life. His most famous work is the 'Autobiography', which details his personal experiences and his role in the American Revolutionary War. more

“It was about that time [415 BCE] that the poet Diagoras of Melos was proscribed for atheism, he having declared that the non-punishment of a certain act of iniquity proved that there were no gods. It has been surmised, with some reason, that the iniquity in question was the slaughter of the Melians by the Athenians in 416 BCE, and the Athenian resentment in that case was personal and political rather than religious. For some time after 415 the Athenian courts made strenuous efforts to punish every discoverable case of impiety; and parodies of the Eleusinian mysteries were alleged against Alcibiades and others. Diagoras, who was further charged with divulging the Eleusinian and other mysteries, and with making firewood of an image of Herakles, telling the god thus to perform his thirteenth labour by cooking turnips, became thenceforth one of the proverbial atheists of the ancient world, and a reward of a silver talent was offered for killing him, and of two talents for his capture alive; despite which he seems to have escaped.”

Reason Atheism Poet Gods Death Penalty Superstition Freethought Athenians Hercules Herakles Alcibiades Eleusinian Diagoras Diagoras Of Melos Impiety

Book:A Short History Of Freethought: Ancient And Modern

Source: A Short History Of Freethought: Ancient And Modern

“I project myself to love and devote my time and attention to someone without a reason, so at least I can give someone the feelings of being the most special person in someone’s life.”

Love Reason Feelings Time Attention Projection Devote

Book:LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS

Source: LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS

“Thus identified with astronomy, in proclaiming truths supposed to be hostile to Scripture, Geology has been denounced as the enemy of religion. The twin sisters of terrestrial and celestial physics have thus been joint-heirs of intolerance and persecution—unresisting victims in the crusade which ignorance and fanaticism are ever waging against science. When great truths are driven to make an appeal to reason, knowledge becomes criminal, and philosophers martyrs. Truth, however, like all moral powers, can neither be checked nor extinguished. When compressed, it but reacts the more. It crushes where it cannot expand—it burns where it is not allowed to shine. Human when originally divulged, it becomes divine when finally established. At first, the breath of a rage—at last it is the edict of a god. Endowed with such vital energy, astronomical truth has cut its way through the thick darkness of superstitious times, and, cheered by its conquests, Geology will find the same open path when it has triumphed over the less formidable obstacles of a civilized age.”