The moral virtues, without religion, are but cold, lifeless, and insipid; it is only religion which opens the mind to great conceptions, fills it with the most sublime ideas, and warns the soul with more than sensual pleasures.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
In politics, as in religion, we have less charity for those who believe the half of our creed, than for those who deny the whole of it.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things in a perfect manner.
—Bonaventure (1221–74) Italian Christian Scholar, Theologian, Philosopher
Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence
—James Madison (1751–1836) American Founding Father, Statesman, President
Many people think they have religion when they are troubled with dyspepsia.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many things which perhaps are of no importance, that it cannot but see something feeble in a civilization which smiles as it refuses to make the battlefield the test of excellence.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
Know that without star or angel for their guide, they who worship God shall find him.—Humble love, and not proud reason keeps the door of heaven.—Love finds admission where proud science fails.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s blunders?
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Religion, if it be true, is central truth; and all knowledge which is not gathered round it, and quickened and illuminated by it, is hardly worthy the name.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
A religion that never suffices to govern a man will never suffice to save him.—That which does not distinguish him from a sinful world, will never distinguish him from a perishing world.
—John Howe (b.1957) Canadian Book Illustrator, Designer
Anything that makes religion a second object makes it no object.—He who offers to God a second place offers him no place.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
But a priest’s life is not supposed to be well-rounded; it is supposed to be one-pointed—a compass, not a weathercock.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
There are those to whom a sense of religion has come in storm and tempest; there are those whom it has summoned amid scenes of revelry and idle vanity; there are those, too, who have heard its “still small voice” amid rural leisure and placid retirement. But perhaps the knowledge which causeth not to err is most frequently impressed upon the mind during the season of affliction.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message.
—Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) Polish Catholic Religious Leader
To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could conceive an all-powerful God who obeys his own laws.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The religious is any activity pursued in behalf of an ideal end against obstacles and in spite of threats of personal loss because of its general and enduring value.
—John Dewey (1859–1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Educator
By religion I mean a set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by methods which are emotional or authoritarian, not intellectual
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
I daresay anything can be made holy by being sincerely worshipped.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
The notion of religious liberty is that you cannot be forced to participate in a religious ceremony that’s not of your choosing simply because you’re out-voted
—Ira Glass (b.1959) American Radio, Television Host
What church I go to on Sunday, what dogma of the Catholic Church I believe in, is my business; and whatever faith any other American has is his business.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Religion is probably, after sex, the second oldest resource which human beings have available to them for blowing their minds.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
While men believe in the possibilities of children being religious, they are largely failing to make them so, because they are offering them not a child’s but a man’s religion—men’s forms of truth and men’s forms of experience.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, if afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Leave a Reply