No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the read more

No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the martyrs not quite beheaded. Far from diminishing the appetite for power, suffering exasperates it.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with read more

Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it's important read more

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it's important to realize that whatever you're doing, it's your first attempt at it.

In isolated societies creeds can be preserved. It is where people of different traditions, outlook and creeds mingle freely and read more

In isolated societies creeds can be preserved. It is where people of different traditions, outlook and creeds mingle freely and exchange ideas that religious beliefs begin to be eroded. No one changes his beliefs without some instigation, some novel experience, some modification of the customary course of things, and in a closed society people believe what all their fellows obviously believe. Only when they are brought into contact with persons whom they respect holding different views do they begin to look at their inherited beliefs critically.

Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't read more

Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

The farther we go, the more the ultimate explanation recedes from us, and all we have left is faith.

The farther we go, the more the ultimate explanation recedes from us, and all we have left is faith.

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.