Quotes - Page R

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S TA U V W X Y Z

Rand, Ayn
"To be boosted by an illusion is not to live better than to live in harmony with the truth; it is not nearly so safe, not nearly so sweet, and not nearly so fruitful. These refusals to part with a decayed illusion are really an infection to the mind. Believe, certainly; we cannot help but believing; but believe rationality, holding what seems certain for certain, what seems probable for probable, what seems desirable for desirable, and what seems false for false."

Roberts, Stephen
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Roddenberry, Gene
"We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes."

Root, W. T.
"Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character,"
[Prof. of Psychology at Univ. of Pittsburgh, after examining 1,916 prisoners]

Rose, Ernestine
"It is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so."
[In the speech, "A Defense of Atheism"]

Russell, Bertrand
"I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian God may exist; so may the Gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one
of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the
region of probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider
any of them."

"I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every
kind of religious belief will die out. I do not believe that, on the
balance, religious belief has been a force for good. I regard it as
belonging to the infancy of human reason, and to a stage of development
which we are outgrowing."

"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death...Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man."

"God and Satan alike are essentially human figures, the one a projection of
ourselves, the other of our enemies."

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."

"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts."

"We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world -- its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it. Conquer the world by intelligence and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it."
Why I Am Not A Christian

"I wish to propose for the reader's favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true."

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