Quotessence
Home / Topics / Secular Quotes

Secular Quotes

Browse 652 quotes about Secular.

Related topics

ReligiousPeopleWorldChristianIfsThinkingChurchWayMenAtheismStatesAtheistBelieveCountryCultureHumanismShouldAmericaChristianityMeanNeedsReligionSpiritualKindMoralSecular SocietySchoolSecular HumanismPersonsLawBeliefDoeGovernmentHumanistMayModernSacredValuesWantHumansIdeasMindViewsCommunityDifferencesFactsFeelsHomeIslamKnowsMatterSaidWellsArtDifferentFormHas BeensNationsPositive AtheismStillsTryingAgeBookDemocracyGivingLooksSelfWould BeIdeologyIndiaIslamicLeftMovementPrayerTeachingTodayWarWesternYearsArtistIntellectualJewLastsLittlesPhilosophyPrinciplesPurposeRealSeemsSpiritualityStudentsTwoAgnosticAuthorityCertainChildrenEndsEvolutionFatherGroupsmore

Secular Quotes

“The gay marriage thing to me, I don't understand why it's so important for the secular progressives in this country, the people who want to change America fundamentally and every way, why this is the lead issue. The L.A. Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe. These people are going, 'Oh, my God, what are you doing? How can you not see the civil rights aspect of this?'”

PeopleWayWantImportantCountryAmericaIssuesRightsNew YorkEvolutionGayAspectCivil RightsGlobesSecularBostonSan FranciscoGay MarriageNew York TimesChronicles
Author:Bill O'Reilly
Create image

“You must realise now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fileds, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work.”

HumansHomeInspirationFaithWaitingCallingActivityOrdinaryArmyEverydayUniversityTheatreChristian InspirationalHuman LifeChairsRealisingFactoriesImmenseSecularLaboratoryWorkshopsPanorama
Author:Josemaria Escriva
Create image

“Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”

IfsMenWayGodReligionReligiousPoorMoralHellAtheismMoralityRewardsAtheistPositive AtheismPunishmentTiesDelusionEthicalSecularAgnosticScience And ReligionAfter DeathRelativityAtheisticFreethinkerPhilosophy Of ReligionReligious ExtremismLife After DeathIf There Is A GodReligion GodUnderminingScience ReligionAnti ReligiousReligious PhilosophyPhilosophy And ReligionMorality And ReligionMan Of GodNo SympathyFunny ReligiousFunny AtheistMoral EthicsGreatest AtheistDaily AtheistModern PhysicsReward And PunishmentEthical BehaviorThinking GodMorality And EthicsNon ReligiousEthics And MoralsSecular SocietyReligious PracticesBest GodMoral BehaviorHope DeathRewards In HeavenCriticism Of Religion
Book:The Ultimate Quotable Einstein
Create image

“Not even the visionary or mystical experience ever lasts very long. It is for art to capture that experience, to offer it to, in the case of literature, its readers; to be, for a secular, materialist culture, some sort of replacement for what the love of god offers in the world of faith.”

WorldLoveLongArtLastsArtistCultureLiteratureCasesReaderOffersGod LoveCaptureSecularMysticalVisionariesReplacementsMystical Experiences
Book:Is nothing sacred?
Create image

“The preservation of the Jew was certainly not casual. He has endured through the power of a certain ideal, based on the recognition of a Higher Power in human affairs. Time after time in his history, moreover, he has been saved from disaster in a manner, which cannot be described excepting as 'providential.' The author has deliberately attempted to write this book in a secular spirit; he does not think that his readers can fail to see in it, on every page, a higher immanence”

ThinkingWritingHumansDoeHas BeensBookSpiritCertainFailingReaderHigherPagesIdealsAffairJewSavedDisasterRecognitionSecularPreservationJudaismCasualHigher Power
Book:A Bird's-eye View of Jewish History
Create image

“One of the great sadnesses of modern life, because of our disenfranchisement and disillusionment with religion, is that we don't have access to these ideas. Yoga and meditation, for me, is a way of, in this secular world, accessing very very beautiful principles that would perhaps make us happier, at a time when people feel disillusioned with the economy, concerned about the ecology, worried with politicians, and don't trust what they're being told on television.”

PeopleWorldWayFeelsIdeasBeautifulPrinciplesEconomyMeditationSadnessModernTelevisionPoliticianYogaConcernedAccessWorriedSecularEcologyModern LifeDon't TrustDisillusionmentVery BeautifulDisillusionedDisenfranchisement
Author:Russell Brand
Create image

“For people raised and programmed on the patriarchal religions of today, religions that affect even the most secular aspects of our society, perhaps there remains a lingering, almost innate memory of sacred shrines and temples tended by priestesses who served in the religion of the original supreme deity. In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven. At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?”

PeopleTodayRememberHeavenMemoriesAspectOriginalsRemainsSacredRaisedSupremeDawnTemplesOur SocietySecularInnateDeitiesMistressLingeringShrinesReligion GodPriestesses
Book:When God Was A Woman
Create image

“My advice to myself and to everyone else, particularly young people, is to turn on, tune in and drop out. By drop out, I mean to detach yourself from involvement in secular, external social games. But the dropping out has to occur internally before it can occur externally. I'm not telling kids just to quit school; I'm not telling people to quit their jobs. That is an inevitable development of the process of turning on and tuning in.”

PeopleMeanKidsSchoolJobsYoungTurnsGamesSocialProcessAdviceDevelopmentQuittingInevitableTunesSecularInvolvementDroppingTurn-onTuningDropping Out
Book:The Politics of Ecstasy
Create image

“And on this issue of the Shia in Iraq, I think there's been a certain amount of, frankly, Terry, a kind of pop sociology in America that, you know, somehow the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular.”

ThinkingKnowsWantKindAmericaCertainIssuesAmountEvidenceIraqPopsIslamicRegimesSecularSociologyFundamentalistShia
Author:William Kristol
Create image

“The America in which we grew up is vastly different from the America the secular-socialist Left want to create. And that's why saving America is the fundamental challenge of our time. The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.”

WantDifferentAmericaLeftChallengesGrewGrew UpMachinesFundamentalsUnionsThreatSavingOur TimeGermanySovietSecularSocialistNaziSoviet UnionNazi Germany
Author:Newt Gingrich
Create image

“What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.”

WorldWayGivingHumansI CanRealSoulBodyEarthSpiritualFoundAttentionDependsBecomingActivityOrdinarySacredConvictionTreasureReal LifeSavingHuman LifeDistinctionReal WorldSecularEngagingExquisiteBecoming MorePhysical Activity
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention - on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God - that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying. The primary task of the schoolteacher is to teach children, in a secular context, the technique of prayer.”

MenChildrenGodProblemDesirePrayerForgetPayAttentionTeachPrayingEgoTasksOneselfTechniquePrimariesLandscapePay AttentionIdolsSecularTrue God
Author:W. H. Auden
Create image

“The God of the Old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.”

CharacterGodReligionReligiousFictionAtheismAtheistDelusionSecularTestamentAgnosticOld TestamentThere Is No GodOrganized ReligionIf There Is A GodTheistAnti ReligiousControl FreakThere Being No GodUnforgivingHomophobicReligion ChristianVindictiveGod DelusionFaith ReligionReligion In SocietySelfish GeneAnti AtheistAnti GodEvil GodReligion Today
Book:The God Delusion
Create image

“America's founding fathers did not intend to take religion out of education. Many of the nation's greatest universities were founded by evangelists and religious leaders; but many of these have lost the founders concept and become secular institutions. Because of this attitude, secular education is stumbling and floundering.”

AmericaReligionFatherLostNationsReligiousAttitudeLeaderConceptsInstitutionsUniversityFoundersSecularFoundingStumblingEvangelistsReligious LeadersFloundering
Author:Billy Graham
Create image

“Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

AbleReligionAtheismWillingAtheistSecularAgnosticSkepticalThere Is No GodAgnosticismGod ExistsOmnipotentOmnipotenceIf There Is A GodReligion GodFounding Fathers Anti ReligionTheistFounding Fathers AtheistAnti ReligiousThere Being No GodGod Is AbleNon BelieverFaith ReligionReligion In SocietyAnti GodProof That God ExistsSubtle AtheistProof God ExistsProblem Of EvilEpicureanEvil GodCriticism Of Religion
Author:Epicurus
Create image

“Conservatives, who have presumed that the key to preventing AIDS is abstinence-only education, and liberals, who have focused on distribution of condoms, should both note that the intervention that has tested most cost-effective in Africa is neither... Secular bleeding hearts and religious bleeding hearts will have to forge a common cause.”

ShouldHeartCausesReligiousCommonKeysCostNotesFocusedAidsSecularPhilanthropyTestedDistributionInterventionBleedingPreventingAbstinenceCondomBleeding Heart
Author:Nicholas D. Kristof
Create image

“Civilization has little to fear from educated people and brain-workers. In them the replacement of religious motives for civilized behaviors by other, secular motives, would proceed unobtrusively. . . .”

PeopleLittlesReligionFearReligiousBrainCivilizationBehaviorWorkersEducatedMotiveCivilizedSecularReplacementsCivilized Behavior
Book:Abstracts of the Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud
Create image

“Sometimes I think the environment in which we operate is entirely too secular. The fact that we have freedom of religion doesn't mean we need to try to have freedom from religion”

ThinkingNeedsTryingMeanSometimesFactsChristianReligiousFreedomEnvironmentSecularFreedom Of Religion
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton, 1993, Bk. 2, August 1 to December 31, 1993
Create image

“This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now).”

HeartSelfLyingReligiousChristianityBlessingEternalMessagesGlorySalvationAttractiveSaviorSecularFind MeHumblingHeart Love
Author:Timothy Keller
Create image

“[The Royal Society] is quite simply the voice of science in Britain. It is intellectually rigorous, not afraid to be outspoken on controversial issues such as climate change, but it is not aggressively secular either, insisting on a single view of the world. In fact, there are plenty of eminent scientists - Robert Winston, for instance - who are also men of faith.”

MenWorldFactsScienceFaithVoiceViewsIssuesScientistClimateClimate ChangeInstancePlentyBritainNot AfraidSecularRoyalControversialInsistingOutspokenControversial Issues
Author:Bill Bryson
Create image

“Prophecy and history predict and record a great and universal apostasy which was to be followed by a restoration as predicted by John in Revelation. The fact of the great apostasy is attested by both sacred and secular writ, and history bears witness that it became universal. We proclaim this fact of history not as an attack on any church. We do not assume any position of "holier than thou" or "wiser than thou," but we announce this historic fact of the apostasy as a vindication of the claim that there has been in fact a restoration of the gospel.”

Has BeensFactsChurchRecordsPositionBearsUniversalClaimsSacredAssumingHistoricalWitnessRevelationsSecularWiserProphecyHistoricRestorationVindicationApostasyHolier Than Thou
Author:Hugh B. Brown
Create image

“The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.”

MenNeedsGivingShouldHumansMeanHelpingProblemChristChurchShareCallingOrdinaryPropertyHuman LifeFree WillServingOfferingSecularCongregationClergyDominatingThose In Need
Book:Bonhoeffer for a New Generation
Create image

“It is true that some secluded intellectuals in their esoteric circles talk differently. They proclaim the priority of what they call eternal absolute values and feign in their declamations—not in their personal conduct—a disdain of things secular and transitory. But the public ignores such utterances. The main goal of present-day political action is to secure for the respective pressure group memberships the highest material well-being. The only way for a leader to succeed is to instill in people the conviction that his program best serves the attainment of this goal.”

PeopleWayWellsActionPoliticalValuesGoalLeaderGroupsMaterialsSucceedEternalHighestProgramAbsolutesPressureConvictionPrioritiesCirclesSecureWell BeingSecularAttainmentPresent DayDisdainUtteranceMembershipInstillEsotericTransitoryPolitical ActionSecludedDeclamationPressure Groups
Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
Create image

“If I have one message to give to the secular American people, it's that the world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWorldGivingCountryGovernmentTogetherDifferencesMessagesBiggerWestEastDividedSecularIranianEast And WestBetween You And Me
Author:Marjane Satrapi
Create image

“I illustrate with a quotation from the atheist philosopher Richard Rorty, who died recently and is, I suspect, now having a lengthy conversation with his maker. Rorty argued that secular professors ought “to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own.”

ReligiousViewsStudentsCollegeOughtConversationDiedAtheistPhilosopherSuspectsMakersProfessorsSecularQuotationsHomophobicLengthy
Author:Richard Rorty
Create image

“In view of the tide of religiosity engulfing a once secular republic it is refreshing to be reminded by Freethinkers that free thought and skepticism are robustly in the American tradition. After all the Founding Fathers began by omitting God from the American Constitution.”

FatherViewsTraditionConstitutionRepublicTidesSkepticismSecularFoundingRefreshingFreethinkerFree ThoughtAmerican TraditionAmerican ConstitutionOmittingEngulfing
Author:Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Create image

“God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: Where is the salt?”

WorldShouldLittlesDoeRealHandsChristianAsksCommunityHorrorBlameMeatSaltSecularElegantPenetratePiousReproachCellarsReal Questions
Author:John Stott
Create image