“I have written, probably, more books for children than any other writer, from story-books to plays, and can claim to know more about interesting children than most.” KnowsChildrenBookPlayStoriesInterestingWrittenClaimsChildren BookStory Book Author:Enid Blyton
“Larry Colton’s Ordinary Joes are just like us, yet they endure what we could never imagine, and are ennobled in ways they themselves might not claim. Intimate and epic, unblinking and even-handed, Colton’s engrossing story strips sentimentality and cliché from our notion of hero.” WayStoriesMightImagineHeroOrdinaryClaimsEndureNotionIntimateEpicLarrySentimentality Author:Ron Shelton
“Now that I'm experiencing motherhood, I'm ready to write the next chapter of my family story. Of course a few jaded folks in the press corps will claim I ran out of money or just want to kiss John Corbett again. One of these things is true.” WantWritingStoriesCoursesNextReadyKissingMy FamilyClaimsPressesFolksMotherhoodRanChaptersJadedNext Chapter Author:Nia Vardalos
“In constructing our narratives, we identify which particular events or experiences were formative or transformative. In telling our stories, we also claim some authority over our own experiences and their meanings.” StoriesEventsParticularAuthorityClaimsNarrative Author:Peg O'Connor
“I am not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief is positively harmful. Reviewing the false claims of religion, I do not wish, as some sentimental materialists affect to wish, that they were true. I do not envy believers their faith. I am relieved to think that the whole story is a sinister fairy tale; life would be miserable if what the faithful affirmed was actually the case.” IfsThinkingWholeStoriesWould BeBeliefWishChurchReligiousCasesAtheismInfluenceEffectsClaimsAtheistEnvyBelieverTalesVersionsMiserableFaithfulFairyFairy TaleSentimentalPositivelyReligious BeliefRelievedSinisterUntruth Book:Letters to a Young Contrarian Source: Letters to a Young Contrarian
“When it comes to bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion... Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do.” PeopleMenStoriesReligionWatchesSkyPromiseClaimsConvincedInvisibleAll TimeChampionAweBullshitExaggeratedDiseasedFalse Promises Author:George Carlin
“The argument that the literal story of Genesis can qualify as science collapses on three major grounds: the creationists' need to invoke miracles in order to compress the events of the earth's history into the biblical span of a few thousand years; their unwillingness to abandon claims clearly disproved, including the assertion that all fossils are products of Noah's flood; and their reliance upon distortion, misquote, half-quote, and citation out of context to characterize the ideas of their opponents.” NeedsYearsIdeasStoriesEarthReligionOrderThreeHalfAtheismEventsProductsThousandMajorsArgumentMiracleClaimsIncludingOpponentsAbandonCollapseBiblicalFloodThousand YearsFossilsRelianceLiteralAssertionGenesisDistortionInvokeOf ContextCitations Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“Does it take a blanket presupposition for a historian to discount some miracle stories as legendary? No, because, as even Bultmann recognized, there is no problem accepting reports even of extraordinary things that we can still verify as occurring today, like faith healings and exorcisms. However you may wish to account for them, you can go to certain meetings and see scenes somewhat resembling those in the gospels. So it is by no means a matter of rejecting all miracle stories on principle. Biblical critics are not like the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.” MayMeanDoeStillsMatterStoriesProblemTodayCertainReligionWishHealingAcceptingPrinciplesSceneAccountsMiracleClaimsMeetingsCriticsExtraordinaryParanormalReportsHistorianInvestigationBiblicalCommitteesNo ProblemBlanketLegendaryRejectingExtraordinary ThingsDiscountsVerifyExorcismFaith Healing Author:Robert M. Price
“Mystery fiction is, after all, a substitute for tranquilizers, strong drink, and bad, if diverting, companions. One slips into bed ... onto the train ... into the chair in the sickroom ... and is suddenly transported to a place where light fights dark and wins. When the story's over, one is left without a hangover, without remorse. Can any other opiate make that claim?” IfsStoriesLightFightingWinningLeftStrongDarkFictionMysteryDrinkBedClaimsTrainChairsCompanionSubstitutesSlipsRemorseHangoverOpiatesStrong Drink Author:Mary Cantwell