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Meditation 130
Quotations X

"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

But as some people do like quotations and think they can be useful in succinctly communicating an opinion, we will post a selection occasionally. This is the tenth in an ongoing series.

Special thanks to Kat F. for contributing to this month's selection.

1. Religion is what the common people see as true, the wise people see as false, and the rulers see as useful. Seneca
2. All religions, with their gods, demigods, prophets, messiahs and saints, are the product of the fancy and credulity of men who have not yet reached the full development and complete personality of their intellectual powers. Mikhail A. Bakunin
3. I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. Susan B. Anthony
4. 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. Stephen Roberts
5. True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness. Albert Einstein
6. To insist on a spiritual practice that served you in the past is to carry the raft on your back after you have crossed the river. Buddha
7. I’ve begun worshipping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It’s there for me every day, and the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There’s no mystery, no one asks for money, I don’t have to dress up, and there’s no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to 'God' are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate. George Carlin
8. As far as I'm concerned, fundamentalism, whether in the name of Allah or Jesus, represents two heads of the same beast. Russell Scanlon
9. It is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so. Josh Billings
10. The more you know the less the better. Billy Connolly
11. The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles? John Adams
12. If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell
13. A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live. Voltaire
14. The only thing that makes a text sacred is the number of people that believe it to be so. Subtract that belief, and the Good Book becomes no different than any other book. Rick Groen
15. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. Dave Barry
16. Faith in God necessarily implies a lack of faith in humanity. Barbara G. Walker
17. You can do some terrible things when you feel you have right on your side. Brian Flanagan
18. The man who gets on his knees has not learned the right use of his legs.
    Lemuel K. Washburn
19. To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy. William Ralph Inge
20. God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e., everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman