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Sacrilege Quotes

Browse 42 quotes about Sacrilege.

Sacrilege Quotes

“The funds for all this had to be found from somewhere. Now, Constantine turned to ‘those accursed and foul people’ who had chosen to stubbornly ‘hold themselves back’ from Christianity and continue visiting their ‘sanctuaries of falsehood’ – in other words, those people who would soon be called ‘pagans’. The means by which Constantine chose to take some of this wealth was simple – and humiliating: he demanded that the statues be taken from the temples. Christian officials, so it was said, travelled the empire, ordering the priests of the old religion to bring their statues out of the temples. From the 330s onwards some of the most sacred objects in the empire started to be removed. It is hard, today, to understand the enormity of Constantine’s order. If Michelangelo’s Pietà were taken from the Vatican and sold, it would be considered a terrible act of cultural vandalism – but it wouldn’t be sacrilege as the statue is not in itself sacred. Statues in Roman temples were. To remove them was a gross violation, and Constantine knew it.”

WealthChristianityDestructionMonotheismVandalismSacrilege
Book:The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World
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“We find Tankawosho breaking up a wooden statue of Buddha on a wintry day to make a fire. 'What sacrilege!' said the horror-stricken bystander. 'I wish to get the Shali out of the ashes,' calmly rejoined the Zen. 'But you certainly will not get Shali from this image!' was the angry retort, to which Tanka replied, 'If I do not, this is certainly not a Buddha and I am committing no sacrilege.' Then he turned to warm himself over the kindling fire.”

ZenBuddhaSacrilegeShali
Book:The Book of Tea
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“This is an ode to life. The anthem of the world. For as there are billions of different stars that make up the sky so, too, are there billions of different humans that make up the Earth. Some shine brighter but all are made of the same cosmic dust. O the joy of being in life with all these people! I speak of differences because they are there. Like the different organs that make up our bodies. Earth, itself, is one large body. Listen to how it howls when one human is in misery. When one kills another, the Earth feels the pang in its chest. When one orgasms, the Earth craves a cigarette. Look carefully, these animals are beauty spots that make the Earth’s face lovelier and more loveable. These oceans are the Earth’s limpid eyes. These trees, its hair. This is an ode to life. The anthem of the world. I will no longer speak of differences, for the similarities are larger. Look even closer. There may be distances between our limbs but there are no spaces between our hearts. We long to be one. We long to be in nature and to run wild with its wildlife. Let us celebrate life and living, for it is sacrilegious to be ungrateful. Let us play and be playful, for it is sacrilegious to be serious. Let us celebrate imperfections and make existence proud of us, for tomorrow is death, and this is an ode to life. The anthem of the world.”

PeopleWorldLoveLifeHumansCountryPlayBodyTodayEarthBeautifulSpiritualDeathJoySufferingHumanitySpiritualityStarsPeaceNatureDifferencesSpaceUnitedExistenceBeautySkySeriousHairProudTomorrowLivingAppreciateHarmonyGratefulDistanceMiseryUnityDustCelebrateOnenessBelovedLiveCosmicAnimalsEyesOrgansPresentCigaretteLoverAnguishTreesPersonLimbsTogethernessCitySeriousnessNationWildlifeKamandKojouriKillKamand KojouriListenNowWildUngratefulHowlShineLookUnionAnthemSufferOrgasmPeacefulnessBodiesImperfectionsOceansOne WorldPlayfulChestSacrilegeSacrilegiousCloserBillionOdeSimilaritiesSeasLife PoemsSpotUnappreciativeLoveablePangLovelierCelebration Poems
Author:Kamand Kojouri
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“Where is your brother, he asked, and cain responded with another question. Am I my brother's keeper, You killed him, Yes, I did, but you are the one who is really to blame, I would have given my life for him if you had not destroyed mine, It was a question of putting you to the test, But why put to the test the very thing you yourself created, Because I am the sovereign lord of all things, And of all beings you will say, but not of me and my freedom, What, the freedom to kill, Just as you had the freedom to stop me killing abel, which was perfectly within your capabilities, all you had to do, just for a moment, was to abandon that pride in your infallibility that you share with all the other gods, and, again just for a moment, to be truly merciful and accept my offering with humility, because you shouldn't have refused it, you gods, you and all the others, have a duty to those you claim to have created, This is seditious talk, Yes, possibly, but I can guarantee you that if I were god, I would repeat every day Blessed are those who choose sedition because theirs is the kingdom of the earth, That's sacrilege, Maybe, but no more sacrilegious than you allowing abel to die…”

GodHumanityCainSacrilegeCain And Abel
Author:José Saramago
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“Burn? Smite? Punish? Why is your god so intolerant? So jealous? Why must there be only one god? Why is there not room for many?' 'What?' 'One god, why can you honor only one god?' 'Why...every child in Bible school knows the answer to that. It is the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me."' 'You have not answered my question. Wherein lies the harm? Since earliest time men have sought the shelter of many gods, harmony with all the wild spirits. It would seem the more gods one had standing watch over one's self the better. Would it not?”

ReligionSacrilegeBromKrampusMany Gods
Book:Krampus: The Yule Lord
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“How prone we are to come to the consideration of every question with heads and hearts pre-occupied! How prone to shrink from any opinion, however reasonable, if it be opposed to any, however unreasonable, of our own! How disposed are we to judge, in anger, those who call upon us to think, and encourage us to enquire! To question our prejudices seems nothing less than sacrilege; to break the chains of our ignorance, nothing short of impiety!”

IfsThinkingHeartSeemsOpinionBreakIgnoranceJudgingPrejudiceChainsReasonableConsiderationShrinksUnreasonableHead And HeartSacrilege
Book:Course of popular lectures
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“In the most rigorous [Roman] laws, a wife was condemned to support a gamester, a drunkard, or a libertine, unless he were guilty of homicide, poison, or sacrilege, in which cases the marriage, as it should seem, might have been dissolved by the hand of the executioner.”

ShouldHas BeensHandsSeemsMightLawCasesSupportWifeGuiltyPoisonMight Have BeenDrunkardsHomicideExecutionersLibertineSacrilege
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren't alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don't. That's partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible - Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground.”

PeopleWantEnoughBigsCitiesEnvironmentAliveGrewWalkingGrew UpHawaiiTrashGarbageCorpsesDumpPristineSacrilege
Author:Bette Midler
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“But carbon 13 [the carbon from corn] doesn't lie, and researchers who have compared the isotopes in the flesh or hair of Americans to those in the same tissues of Mexicans report that it is now we in the North who are the true people of corn.... Compared to us, Mexicans today consume a far more varied carbon diet: the animals they eat still eat grass (until recently, Mexicans regarded feeding corn to livestock as a sacrilege); much of their protein comes from legumes; and they still sweeten their beverages with cane sugar. So that's us: processed corn, walking.”

PeopleStillsTodayLyingAnimalHairWalkingFleshGrassDietsReportsSugarCarbonFeedingCornResearchersProteinTissuesBeveragesLivestockSacrilegeTrue PeopleIsotopes
Author:Michael Pollan
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“In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always sought—His Father. “Abba,” He cried, “Papa,” or from the lips of a younger child, “Daddy.” This is such a personal moment it almost seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the night—together.”

HumansChildrenMomentsSeemsPainTogetherNightCoursesFatherChristBloodCrySonSourceLipsStayingCriedDaddyHuman HistoryAppearingPapaCitingLdsAbbaSource Of StrengthSacrilege
Author:Jeffrey R. Holland
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“Now, if I could get Mark to put down his phone and stop taking breaks, we’d be able to finish up before Oprah comes on.” – Bubba “Bubba, what are you going to do when they cancel her show?” – Caleb “Shut your mouth, boy. That’s sacrilege in this store. You talk like that, and I’ll toss you through the window like an old-timey hobo in a Western.” – Bubba”

IfsShowsAbleBoysBreakMouthsWindowMarkWesternPhonesStoresIf I CouldTossBubbaCalebSacrilegeHobosTaking A Break
Author:Sherrilyn Kenyon
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“I was...attacked for being a pasticheur, chided for composing "simple" music, blamed for deserting "modernism," accused of renouncing my "true Russian heritage." People who had never heard of, or cared about, the originals cried "sacrilege": "The classics are ours. Leave the classics alone." To them all my answer was and is the same: You "respect," but I love.”

PeopleArtistSimpleAnswersHeardOriginalsStealingHeritageCriedAccusedModernismComposingSacrilege
Author:Igor Stravinsky
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“When a man's life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men's actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him.”

MenHas BeensSoulBodyActionLife IsSufferingSacredDuesWoundsDestroyedAspirationSensibilityNegligenceSacrilege
Book:Selected Essays, 1934-1943: Historical, Political, and Moral Writings
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