Quote by Søren Kierkegaard

“He who wants, therefore, to prove God’s existence (in a different sense than simply to illuminate the concept of God, and without the reservatio finalis, that we have pointed out, that existence emerges from the proof by means of a leap), he proves something else instead, something that perhaps does not always need a proof, and in any case never something better, because the fool says in his heart that there is no God; but he who says in his heart, or to others: wait a minute and I will prove it—is he not a rare sage! If it is not, in the moment when he must begin the proof, undecided whether God exists, then he does not prove it; and if it is like this at the beginning, then he will never really be able to begin, partly out of fear that he might not succeed, because God may not exist, and partly because he has nothing with which to begin.— In ancient times one was hardly preoccupied with such things. At least Socrates, who is said to have produced the physico-teleological proof for God’s existence, did not concern himself with such things. He constantly assumed God existed and, operating on this assumption, endeavoured to permeate existence with the idea of purpose. If one had asked him why he conducted himself in this way, then he would surely have explained that he did not have the courage to venture upon such a voyage of discovery without having the security behind him that God existed. On the basis of God’s word he, so to speak, casts the net in order to capture the idea of purpose; because nature finds many subterfuges and ways to frighten in order to disturb the inquirer.”

Quote by Søren Kierkegaard