“[Religion is a] primitive insurance against disaster. ... Originally religion was merely a function of the self-preservative instinct. Offer sacrifices to the gods and save your crops. And even Christianity, after all, insures heavily against the flaws in this life by belief in another.” SelfBeliefChristianitySacrificeOffersFunctionInstinctDisasterThis LifeFlawsPrimitiveCrops Book:Told by an Idiot Source: Told by an Idiot
“I pledge to invest in women because I believe it offers one of the greatest returns on investment. I am committed to the belief that we would all be in a much better place if half the human race (women) were empowered to prosper, invent, be educated, start their own businesses, run for office essentially be given the chance to soar.” IfsBelieveHumansRunningBeliefGivenI BelieveChanceRaceHalfReturnOffersOfficeInvestmentCommittedEducatedHuman RaceSoarBetter PlaceEmpoweredPledgeOwn BusinessReturn On Investment Author:Sara Blakely
“I have a standing offer of $250,000 to anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution. My $250,000 offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of evolution is nothing more than a religious belief.” GivingBeliefReligiousEvolutionOffersEvidenceStandingScaryProofHypothesisReligious BeliefEmpirical Evidence Author:Kent Hovind
“Every idea is an incitement. It offers itself for belief, and if believed it is acted on unless some other belief outweighs it or some failure of energy stifles the movement at its birth. The only difference between the expression of an opinion and an incitement is the speaker's enthusiasm for the result.” IfsIdeasBeliefEnergyDifferencesJusticeResultsOpinionMovementExpressionBirthOffersEnthusiasmSpeakersIncitement Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
“The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah, and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.” PeopleIfsWayShouldStoriesJesusBeliefBornMillionsPlanetsBirthHolyOffersFundamentalsWaveBuddhistGuidanceIslamicFlagsVirginsLiteralPaganMetaphoricalCanonLotusesDocumentationTorahVirgin Birth Author:Dan Brown
“Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled: Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.'” PeopleIfsBelieveMadeSaidStillsLawBeliefPrayerOffersHillsAgain And AgainObservers Author:Francis Bacon
“I faced quite a few challenging times, and in front of those, I was more positive than some people not facing those conditions. I'm actually of the belief now that it is that struggle that offers you that open-hearted hope.” PeopleBeliefChallengesStruggleConditionsFrontsOffersHeartedChallenging Times Author:K'naan
“Virtually every major technological advance in the history of the human species- back to the invention of stone tools and the domestication of fire has been ethically ambiguous. If you want to reason about faith, and offer a reasoned (and reason responsive) defense of faith as an extra category of belief worthy of special consideration, I'm eager to play. I certainly grant the existence of the phenomenon of faith; what I want to see is a reasoned ground for taking faith seriously as a way of getting to the truth , and not, say, just as a way people comfort themselves and each other” PeopleIfsWayWantHumansHas BeensReasonPlayBeliefExistenceFireSpecialComfortOffersMajorsToolsStonesSpeciesWorthyDefenseInventionExtrasConsiderationGrantsPhenomenonCategoriesTechnologicalAmbiguousHuman Species Author:Daniel Dennett
“They offer, if we are wise enough or simple enough to take it, a model for what it means to give your heart with little thought of return. Both powerfully imaginary and comfortingly real, dogs act as mirrors for our own beliefs about what would constitute a truly humane society. Perhaps it is not too late for them to teach us some new tricks.” IfsGivingHeartMeanLittlesRealEnoughBeliefSimpleTeachWiseDogReturnOffersLateModelsMirrorsTricksToo LateImaginaryHumaneHumane Society Author:Marjorie Garber
“I enter into discussion and argument with great freedom and ease, inasmuch as opinion finds me in a bad soil to penetrate and take deep root in. No propositions astonish me, no belief offends me, whatever contrast it offers to my own. There is no fancy so frivolous and so extravagant that it does not seem to me quite suitable to the production of the human mind.” MindHumansDoeSeemsBeliefMy OwnOpinionOffersArgumentRootsProductionsEaseDiscussionFancySoilHuman MindContrastPropositionsPenetrateFind MeSuitableExtravagantFrivolousGreat FreedomDeep Roots Author:Michel de Montaigne