Quotes - Page S

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

Sagan, Carl
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

Asked soon after Carl's death:"Didn't [Sagan] want to believe?" She responded, "He didn't want to believe. He wanted to know."
[ Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's wife]

"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking."
The Demon-Haunted World

"The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides."
Billions and Billions

Schumacher, John F.
"Without cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance"
Corruption of Reality, Unified Theory of Religion, Hypnosis and Psychotherapy

Shakespeare, William
"This above all: to thine own self be true."
(Polonius)

Shelley, Percy Bysshe
"If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced."
[English poet (1792-1822)]

Shenkman, Richard
"...several of the first presidents, including Jefferson and Madison, generally refused to issue public prayers, despite importunings to do so. Under pressure, Madison relented in the War Of 1812, but held to his belief that chaplains shouldn't be appointed to the military or be allowed to open Congress."
I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode Or Not

Sherman, Marian Noel, M.D.
"A believer is not a thinker and a thinker is not a believer."
[Interview, Daily Colonist, c. 1969]

Shermer, Michael
"It is sad that while science moves ahead in exciting new areas of research, fine-tuning our knowledge of how life originated and evolved, creationists remain mired in medieval debates about angels on the head of a pin and animals in the belly of an Ark."

Stein, Gordon
"St. Augustine found lying among the clergy so prevalent that he wrote two books (De Mendacio in 395 A.D. and Contra Mendacium in
420 A.D.), urging that it stop."
[A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism, p. 65]

Steinem, Gloria
"It's an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don't try to make it posthumous."

Stendhal
"All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few."

Stern, Howard
"I'm sickened by all religions. Religion has divided people. I don't think there's any difference between the pope wearing a large hat and parading around with a smoking purse and an African painting his face white and praying to a rock."

Straczynski, J. Michael
"Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't accept your compliment. You see, I'm an
atheist, so if I'm also God, that would mean that I don't believe in myself,
and at this point in my life, I don't need the added insecurity."
[Producer of Babylon 5, when a fan of Babylon 5 told Straczynski that he was God]

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