“Does religion fill a much needed gap? It is often said that there is a God-shaped gap in the brain which needs to be filled: we have a psychological need for God -- imaginary friend, father, big brother, confessor, confidant -- and the need has to be satisfied whether God really exists or not. But could it be that God clutters up a gap that we'd be better off filling with something else? Science, perhaps? Art? Human friendship? Humanism? Love of this life in the real world, giving no credence to other lives beyond the grave?” WorldNeedsGivingHumansDoeArtSaidRealBigsReligionFatherBrainBrotherNeededFilledHumanismGravesSatisfiedPsychologicalThis LifeGapsReal WorldImaginaryBetter OffFillingClutterCredenceImaginary FriendConfidantPsychological Needs Author:Richard Dawkins
“[On her UNICEF work:] I'm glad I've got a name, because I'm using it for what it's worth. ... I do not want to see mothers and fathers digging graves for their children.” WantChildrenMotherFatherNamesActivismGladGravesDiggingMother And FatherUnicef Author:Audrey Hepburn
“One doesn't simply write about Lyndon Johnson. You get the Johnson treatment from beyond the grave - arm around you, nose to nose. I should admit that he also reminds me of my father, quite an overbearing and narcissistic character. And in some ways, he reminds me of myself. Another workaholic.” WayShouldWritingCharacterFatherArmsGravesNosesTreatmentJohnsonNarcissisticWorkaholicOverbearing Author:Robert Dallek
“A man's love for his native land lies deeper than any logical expression, among those pulses of the heart which vibrate to the sanctities of home, and to the thoughts which leap up from his father's graves.” MenHeartHomeLyingFatherLandExpressionDeeperGravesNativeLogicalLeapPulseSanctityVibrateNative Land Author:Edwin Hubbel Chapin
“a daughter's love for a kind father ... is mixed with the careless happiness of childhood, which can never come again. Into the father's grave the daughter, sometimes a gray-haired woman, lays away forever the little pet names and memories which to all the rest of the world are but foolishness.” WorldKindLittlesSometimesFatherNamesMemoriesForeverChildhoodDaughterLaysGravesPetGrayFoolishnessCarelessPet Names Book:Anne: A Novel Source: Anne: A Novel
“in coming to terms with the newly dead, I seem to have agitated the spirits of the long dead. They were stirring uneasily in their graves, demanding to be mourned as I had not mourned them when they were buried. I was plunged into retroactive grief for my father, and could no longer deny, though I still tried, the loss I'd suffered at the death of my mother. ... Was it possible ... that one could mourn over losses that had occurred more than half a century earlier?” LongStillsSeemsSpiritMotherFatherTermLossGriefHalfCenturyDenyGravesBuriedMournStirringHalf A Century Author:Eileen Simpson