Best atheism & self Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Even the Atheists... readily acknowledge it for an indubitable truth, that there must be something... which was never made or produced - and which therefore is the cause of those other things that are made, something... whose existence must needs be necessary... Wherefore all the question now is, what is this... self-existent thing, which is the cause of all other things that are made.”

Needs Made Self Causes Existence Atheism Atheist Acknowledge

Author:Ralph Cudworth

“Darwin seems to lose out with the public primarily when his supporters force him into a mano-a-mano Thunderdome death match against the Almighty. Most people seem willing to accept Darwinism as long as they don't have to believe in nothing but Darwinism. Thus, the strident tub-thumping for absolute atheism by evolutionary biologists like Richard Dawkins, whom the new issue of Discover Magazine rightly criticizes as "Darwin's Rottweiler," is self-defeating.”

People Believe Long Self Seems Force Loses Accepting Issues Atheism Willing Absolutes Magazines Criticize Almighty Supporter Darwinism Biologist Tubs Rottweilers

Author:Steve Sailer

“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people; I was saved, they were damned.... Our hymns were loaded with arrogance - self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come Judgment Day.”

People Self Religion Opinion Hell Atheism Judgment Saved Arrogance Almighty Congratulations Assured Loaded Hymns Cozy Judgment Day

Book:Stranger in a Strange Land

Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

“All things considered, I can see no reason to adopt the afterlife hypothesis. I am sure I shall remain in a minority for a long time to come, especially among experiencers, but for me the evidence and the arguments are overwhelming ... We are biological organisms, evolved in fascinating ways for no purpose at all and with no end in mind. We are simply here and this is how it is. I have no self and "I" own nothing. There is no one to die. There is just this moment, and now this, and now this.”

“I have seen myself lose intolerance, narrowness, bigotry, complacence, pride and a whole bushel-basket of other intellectual vices through my contact with Nature and with men. And when you take weeds out of a garden it gives you room to grow flowers. So, every time I lost a little self-satisfaction, or arrogance, I could plant some broadness or love of my own in its place, and after a while the garden of my mind began to bloom and be fragrant and I found myself better equipped for my work and more useful to others as a consequence.”

“It is probably true that almost all atheists stand for the values of reason and freethought. I will attempt to put these values in more substantial terms. There is the belief that inquiry and doubt are essential checks against deception, self deception, and error. There is the belief that logic and the scientific method is the only way the world can arrive at an agreement on the truth about anything.”

World Way Self Reason Values Belief Term Doubt Atheism Essentials Logic Method Errors Atheist Checks Deception Agreement Inquiry Self Deception Scientific Method

Author:Richard Carrier

“Apologys for self-evident Truths can never have any effect on those who have so little Sense as to deny them. They are the Foundation of all Reasoning, and the only just Bottom on which Men can proceed in convincing one another of the Truth: and by consequence whoever is capable of denying them, is not in a condition to be informed.”

Men Littles Self Atheism Conditions Effects Capable Consequence Foundation Bottom Deny Positive Atheism Reasoning Evident Convincing

Author:Anthony Collins

“Pascal makes no attempt in this most famous argument to show that his Roman Catholicism is true or probably true. The reasons which he suggests for making the recommended bet on his particular faith are reasons in the sense of motives rather than reasons in the sense of grounds. Conceding, if only for the sake of the present argument, that we can have no knowledge here, Pascal tries to justify as prudent a policy of systematic self-persuasion, rather than to provide grounds for thinking that the beliefs recommended are actually true.”

Ifs Thinking Trying Self Reason Shows Belief Atheism Policy Particular Argument Sake Positive Atheism Motive Justify Catholicism Persuasion Flew Systematic Prudent Roman Catholic Pascal

Author:Antony Flew

“It is a curiosity of human nature that lack of self-assurance seems to breed an exaggerated sense of power and mission.”

Humans Self Seems Atheism Human Nature Curiosity Missions Positive Atheism Assurance Exaggerated Self Assurance

Book:The Arrogance of Power

Source: The Arrogance of Power

“My method is conversion, not coercion, it is self-suffering, not the suffering of the tyrant. I know that method to be infallible.”

Knows Self Suffering Atheism Method Positive Atheism Conversion Tyrants Coercion Infallible

Book:Gandhi: Selected Political Writings

Source: Gandhi: Selected Political Writings

“An ideology is a complex of ideas or notions which represents itself to the thinker as an absolute truth for the interpretation of the world and his situation within it; it leads the thinker to accomplish an act of self-deception for the purpose of justification, obfuscation and evasion in some sense or other to his advantage.”

“Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution. He devises paradise fictions to provide succor and support... In acts of supreme self-deception, at various times and in various places he has been willing to profess belief in the most incredible myths because of what they have promised him.”

Has Beens Self Belief Religious Fiction Support Atheism Willing Worship Incredibles Various Positive Atheism Myth Supreme Symbols Deception Paradise Self Deception Dissolution Finality

Author:Paul Kurtz

“Changing ideas is a strain not to be lightly incurred, particularly when these ideas are intimately related to one's self-esteem ... men have elaborated an explanation for their situation in life... Their rationales are endowed with moral qualities.”

Men Ideas Self Quality Situation Moral Atheism Self Esteem Positive Atheism Esteem Explanation Related Strain Rationale Situations In Life

Author:Robert E Lane

“I am truly amazed that after all this time, religious groups still need to attack entertainment and use these tragedies as a pitiful excuse for their own self-serving publicity. In response to their protests, I will provide a show where I balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading. This way, fans will not only hear my so-called, violent point of view, but we can also examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.”

“Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.”

Men Needs Self Desire Values Hate Loses Break Atheism Wall Promise Thee Curse Self Respect Suspects Curtains Thyself Profitable Hypocrite

Book:沉思錄:讀了一百年還要再讀一百年的不朽鉅著

Source: 沉思錄:讀了一百年還要再讀一百年的不朽鉅著

“What does democracy come down to? The persuasive power of slogans invented by wily self-seeking politicians.”

Doe Self Democracy Atheism Politician Seeking Slogans Persuasive

Book:Christmas Holiday

Source: Christmas Holiday

“Meiklejohn's position is that free speech in a democracy is not an absolute flowing from the boundless source of some presumed 'natural right.' It is a practical necessity of 'self-government by universal suffrage,' for if the citizens are not permitted to argue out the issues of government, how can they be what they must be in a democracy - the rulers as well as the ruled?”

“Through inculcating the notion that sacrifice is a virtue, Christianity has succeeded in convincing many people that misery incurred through sacrifice is a mark of virtue. Pain becomes the inignia of morality - and conversely, pleasure becomes the insignia of immorality. Christianity, therefore, does not say, "Go forth and be miserable." Rather, it says, "Go forth and practice the virtue of self-sacrifice." In practical terms, these commands are identical.”

“Medievalism, with its saints and martyrs, its love of self-torture, its wild passion for wounding itself, its gashing with knives, and its whipping with rods - Medievalism is real Christianity, and the medieval Christ is the real Christ.”

Real Self Passion Christ Christianity Atheism Self Love Saint Positive Atheism Torture Knives Martyr Medieval Whipping Wild Passion Real Christianity

Book:Epigrams of Oscar Wilde

Source: Epigrams of Oscar Wilde

“Self-righteousness and presumptive moral judgments pose a great danger in the political arena. To become convinced of the divine infallibility of one's personal predilections on a secular political issue is to play God, to assume to oneself the attributes of deity. It cultivates an arrogant intolerance of dissenting viewpoints and relegates one's political adversaries to the category of evil per se.”

“There are, however, exceptions to this reliance on feelings as evidence of truth: if, for instance, your feelings lead to disbelief instead of belief, they're apt to be dismissed as some form of denial. This is not a common problem. Usually intellectualism, not feeling reality, is blamed for disbelief. But, some angel experts suggest, there may be emotional as well as intellectual barriers to belief: unwillingness to believe in angels can reflect low self-esteem.”

“Ferris: Are you going to be as impractical as that? Rearden: The evaluation of an action as practical, Dr. Ferris, depends on what it is that one wishes to practice. Ferris: Haven't you always placed your self-interest above all else? Rearden: That is what I am doing right now.”

Self Action Wish Interest Practice Atheism Havens Depends Right Now Positive Atheism Practicals Drs Self Interest Evaluation Doing Right

Author:Ayn Rand

“Define self-awareness and tell me what it is about it that requires something more than a material explanation. I do not accept the burden of explaining all phenomena, real or imagined. If you think more than matter is required for this thing you call self-awareness, which you have not defined, then you have the burden of showing why.”

Ifs Thinking Real Self Matter Accepting Atheism Awareness Materials Self Awareness Burden Positive Atheism Defined Explanation Explaining

Author:Victor J. Stenger

“That there is a continuous link from humans to gorillas, with the intermediate species merely long dead, is beyond the understanding of speciesists. Tie the label Homo sapiens even to a tiny piece of insensible embryonic tissue, and its life suddenly leaps to infinite, incomputable value.... Self-styled pro-lifers, and others that indulge in footling debates about exactly when in its development a foetus becomes human, exhibit the same discontinuous mentality. Human, to the discontinuous mind, is an absolutist concept. There can be no half measures. And from this flows much evil.”

“Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own. Whether it is our own meaningless self we are upholding, or some doctrine devoid of evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.”

Self Can Do Effort Support Atheism Expression Evidence Blind Positive Atheism Doctrine Meaningless Frenzy Vehemence

Author:Eric Hoffer

“The fundamentalist believer is mostly a weird intellectual who often lacks real faith altogether. As a self-appointed attorney for God, who is in no need of attorneys, he very easily turns out to be more godless than the agnostic and the unbeliever. At all events, he seems deaf to poetry.”

Needs Real Self Seems Turns Atheism Events Intellectual Positive Atheism Believer Agnostic Deaf Attorney Fundamentalist Unbelievers

Book:More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality

Source: More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality

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