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.

The church is the great lost and found department.

The church is the great lost and found department.

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect read more

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that read more

If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that most terrible of all goals entered human ambition. It was clear there'd be no end to what people would be made to suffer for it.

It is not the fact that a person has riches that keeps them from heaven, but the fact that riches read more

It is not the fact that a person has riches that keeps them from heaven, but the fact that riches have them.

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.

Oh the depth of both the wisdom and riches of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond read more

Oh the depth of both the wisdom and riches of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond understanding.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.