Quotessence
Home / Topics / Infidel Quotes

Infidel Quotes

Browse 145 quotes about Infidel.

Related topics

AtheismBelieveIfsPeopleIslamMenReligionWorldHas BeensPositive AtheismChristianChurchInfidelityThinkingKnows

Infidel Quotes

“It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world’s foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed—while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!”

DeathHellLoversAbrahamPiratesInfidelMelvilleMoby DickAhabHerman Melville
Book:Moby-Dick or, The Whale
Create image

“The religious issue was dragged out, and stirred up flames of hatred and intolerance. Clergymen, mobilizing their heaviest artillery of thunder and brimstone, threatened Christians with all manner of dire consequences if they should vote for the 'in fidel' from Virginia. This was particularly true in New England, where the clergy stood like Gibraltar against Jefferson.”

HatredIntoleranceClergyInfidelClergymenThomas JeffersonJeffersonBrimstoneGibraltar
Book:Jefferson: A Great American's Life and ideas
Create image

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d'oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels!”

BelieveEnoughHandsRunningI BelieveHeavenStarsPerfectTreeHighestMiracleEnvironmentalGrassSandEggsCowsGrainDepressingChefMiceLeafsMachineryStatuesScornHingesInfidelLeaves Of GrassToadsGrains Of SandParlorBlackberriesWrens
Author:Walt Whitman
Create image

“The houses of this country (Maharashtra) are exceedingly strong and built solely of stone and iron. The hatchet-men of the Govt. in the course of my marching do not get sufficient strength and power (i.e. time) TO DESTROY AND RAZE THE TEMPLES OF THE INFIDELS that meet the eye on the way. You should appoint an orthodox inspector (darogha) who may afterwards DESTROY THEM AT LEISURE AND DIG UP THEIR FOUNDATIONS”

MenWayShouldMayCountryEyeCoursesHouseStrongBuiltStonesFoundationSufficientTemplesIronOrthodoxLeisureInfidelInspectorsHatchetMaharashtra
Author:Aurangzeb
Create image

“Better to be always in a minority of one with God - branded as madman, incendiary, fanatic, heretic, infidel - frowned upon by "the powers that be," and mobbed by the populace - or consigned ignominiously to the gallows, like him whose "soul is marching on," though his "body lies mouldering in the grave," or burnt to ashes at the stake like Wickliffe, or nailed to the cross like him who "gave himself for the world," - in defence of the RIGHT, than like Herod, having the shouts of a multitude crying, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"”

MenWorldSoulBodyLyingVoiceCryCrossesGravesMinoritiesStakesAshesMultitudesDefenceFanaticsMadmenHereticInfidelBrandedGallowsMarching OnHerod
Author:William Lloyd Garrison
Create image

“And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.”

MenMindEyeDoubtDivineEqualAll ThingsRegardDenyIntuitionBelieverDenialCombinationHeavenlyRaysThank GodThickNow And ThenFogMistInfidel
Book:Moby-Dick
Create image

“The church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors.... For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Welcome atheism! Welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by these Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke put together have done!”

WritingCountryDoneAgeTogetherNamesSidesChurchJusticeAtheismDivineSlavePositive AtheismTyrannyCrueltyWelcomeEnginesIndifferentInfidelityPreferenceOppressorsInfidelPaine
Author:Frederick Douglass
Create image

“If the Almighty in his mercy allows us to settle peace among the christian leaders, we shall press on not only to destroy completely the bad seeds, but also to expand the territories of Christ, and, supported by these achievements, we shall go forward, with God favouring his own purposes, to the most holy expedition against the infidels, the desire for which is deeply fixed in our heart.”

IfsHeartChristianDesirePurposeChristLeaderHolyAchievementMercyPressesSeedsSettlingFixedTerritoryAlmightyInfidelExpeditionsChristian LeadersBad Seed
Author:Pope Leo X
Create image

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.”

PeopleBelieveGovernmentReligionI BelieveReligiousChristianityAtheismExampleSeparationPriestsVotersFoundersSecularFoundingMaintainingChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateCivil LibertiesOur Founding FathersFounding Fathers ChristianState GovernmentPhilosophy Of ReligionOrganized ReligionUs Founding FathersTheismFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousInfidelReligion GodChristian ChurchFree GovernmentFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistReligious PhilosophyChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherPhilosophy And ReligionReligious LeadersReligion And GovernmentChristian RightAnti ReligionFaith ReligionChristian GodReligion PoliticsChurch HistoryGovernment PoliticsChristianity And GovernmentReligious HistoryChristian PhilosophyLaws And Government
Book:Jefferson: Political Writings
Create image

“In Jerusalem, the various modes of worship essentially stood for the same cause but were equally hateful to one another. They never served as a unifying factor. Their adherents were equally manipulated by the clergies to regard the others as wicked infidels or idolaters. The centuries passed in constant pious agitation and in frequent religious wars.”

WarCausesReligiousAtheismCenturyWorshipRegardConstantVariousPositive AtheismFactorsWickedHatefulPiousJerusalemAgitationInfidelUnifyingReligious Wars
Book:Jerusalem, Battlegrounds of Memory
Create image

“From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the rack, the thumb-screw, the stake, the persecutions of witchcraft, the whipping of naked women through the streets of Boston, banishment, trials of heresy, the halter about Garrison's neck, Lovejoy's death, the branding of Captain Walker, shouts of infidel and atheist, have all been for this purpose.”

PeoplePurposeAcceptingAtheismStreetsSpecialAtheistPositive AtheismScriptureTrialsNakedTortureNecksInterpretationStakesBrandingCaptainsPersecutionScrewsTheologianBostonThumbsWitchcraftHeresyWalkersRacksInquisitionInfidelAugustineWhippingBanishment
Book:History of woman suffrage
Create image

“What chiefly concerns and alarms many of us are the problems arising from religious fanaticism. As long as large numbers of militant enthusiasts are persuaded that they alone have access to the truth, and that the rest of us are infidels, we remain under threat. Lord Acton's famous phrase about power can be used of another danger. Dogma tends to corrupt, and absolute dogma corrupts absolutely.”

LongProblemUsedReligiousNumbersLordAtheismDangerConcernAbsolutesThreatPositive AtheismAccessPhrasesDogmaFanaticismAlarmsLarge NumbersMilitantInfidel
Author:Anthony Storr
Create image

“Above all things I entreat you to preserve your faith in Christ. It is my wealth in poverty, my joy in sorrow, my peace amid tumult. For all the evil I have committed, my gracious pardon; and for every effort, my exceeding great reward. I have found it to be so. I can smile with pity at the infidel whose vanity makes him dream that I should barter such a blessing for the few subtleties from the school of the cold-blooded sophists.”

ShouldI CanDreamSchoolJoyEvilFoundChristWealthEffortPovertyColdSorrowBlessingAll ThingsRewardsCommittedPityVanityPreservesPardonGraciousSubtletyInfidelTumultCold BloodedGreat Reward
Author:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Create image

“When confronted with a demand that the universe have a cause, infidels have usually pointed out that God was not much of an explanation. This is true enough, but not really a positive argument. After mechanistic explanation became popular, infidels liked to restrict causality to the chain of causes in an eternal material universe, pointing out that no supernatural cause was then necessary. Plausible, but still rather defensive. Today's skeptic can do better. In all likelihood, the universe is uncaused. It is random. It just is.”

StillsEnoughTodayReligionUniverseCausesCan DoMaterialsDemandEternalArgumentChainsExplanationPointingSkepticPlausibleLikelihoodInfidelCausality
Author:Taner Edis
Create image

“As to the Christian religion, besides the strong evidence which we have for it, there is a balance in its favor from the number of great men who have been convinced of its truth after a serious consideration of the question. Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man accustomed to examine evidence, and he was convinced. Grotius was not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias on the side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out an infidel, and came to be a very firm believer.”

MenWorldHas BeensChristianStrongSidesNumbersChristianitySeriousBalanceEvidenceConvincedLawyerBelieverFavorsFirmGreat MenConsiderationBiasAccustomedNewtonInfidelIsaacRecluse
Book:Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales
Create image

“The science of the church is neglected for the study of geometry, and they lose sight of Heaven while they are employed in measuring the earth. Euclid is perpetually in their hands. Aristotle and Theophrastus are the objects of their admiration; and they express an uncommon reverence for the works of Galen. Their errors are derived from the abuse of the arts and sciences of the infidels, and they corrupt the simplicity of the gospel by the refinements of human reason.”

HumansArtReasonHandsEarthHeavenLosesChurchStudyObjectsAbuseSightMathematicsErrorsSimplicityAdmirationReverenceEmployedNeglectedGeometryUncommonRefinementMeasuringArt And ScienceInfidelHuman ReasonEuclidGalen
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)
Create image

“Here the only genuine conflict is between true believers. Of a given text in Holy Writ one faction may say this thing and another that, but both agree unreservedly that the text itself is impeccable, and neither in the midst of the most violent disputation would venture to accuse the other of doubt. To call a man a doubter in these parts is equal to accusing him of cannibalism. Even the infidel Scopes himself is not charged with any such infamy.”

MenMayGivenDoubtAtheismHolyConflictEqualAgreePositive AtheismBelieverGenuineViolentMidstVentureScopeFactionsTrue BelieverInfidelCannibalismImpeccableDoubtersInfamyAccusing
Author:H. L. Mencken
Create image

“I love to consider an Infidel, whether distinguished by the title of deist, atheist, or free-thinker, by three different lights, in his solitude, his afflictions, and his last moments.... [In these situations such people show themselves] in solitude, incapable or rapture or elevation, ... in distress, [with] a halter or a pistol the only refuge [they] can fly to, ... [and liable to conversion] at the approach of death.”

PeopleDifferentMomentsShowsLightLastsThreeSituationSolitudeApproachAtheistScaryConversionTitlesThinkerRefugeDistressIncapableAfflictionDistinguishedRaptureLiableElevationPistolsInfidelDeistFree Thinkers
Author:Richard Steele
Create image

“Where is there such an one who has not a thousand times been struck with a sort of infidel idea, that whatever other worlds God may be Lord of, he is not the Lord of this; for else this world would seem to give the lie to Him; so utterly repugnant seem its ways to the instinctively known ways of Heaven.”

WorldWayGivingMayIdeasGodSeemsEarthLyingReligionHeavenKnownLordThis WorldThousandOther WorldsInfidel
Book:Pierre; or The Ambiguities
Create image

“I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy, and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school. Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infidel.”

KnowsI CanReasonSchoolChristianCallingAtheistSpiteNeverthelessDispositionJustifiedOrthodoxyAtheisticInfidelAntipathy
Author:Thomas Huxley
Create image

“The gloomy theology of the orthodox--the Calvinists--I do not, I cannot believe. Many of the notions--nay, most of the notions--which orthodox people have of the divinity of the Bible, I disbelieve. I am so nearly infidel in all my views, that too, in spite of my wishes, that none but the most liberal doctrines can command my assent.”

PeopleBelieveReligionWishViewsBibleNotionTheologyDoctrineCommandSpiteDivinityOrthodoxGloomyInfidelMy Wish
Author:Rutherford B. Hayes
Create image

“If you're following the news, you know that the major religions differ in their interpretation of the holy books. For example, one way to interpret God's will is that you should love your neighbor. An alternate reading of the holy books might lead you to rig a donkey cart with small mortar rockets and aim it at a hotel full of infidels. In summary, po-tay-to, poh-tah-to. Religions are very flexible.”

IfsKnowsWayShouldBookMightReligionReadingLove YouExampleHolyMajorsNewsAimFollowingNeighborGods WillOne WayHotelInterpretationFlexibleRocketsCartsDonkeyInfidelSummaryMortarHoly BooksLove Your NeighborRigs
Author:Scott Adams
Create image