Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-American Film Actress, Cabaret Performer
Liberal minds are open to conviction. Liberal doctrines are capable of improvement. There are proselytes from atheism; but none from superstition.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
Superstition is the poetry of life, so that it does not injure the poet to be superstitious.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Men become superstitious, not because they have too much imagination, but because they are not aware that they have any.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Superstitions are, for the most part, but the shadows of great truths.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
It is true that may hold in these things, which is the general root of superstition; namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
It is bad luck to fall out of a thirteenth story window on Friday.
—U.S. Proverb
Superstition is a senseless fear of God; religion the intelligent and pious worship of the deity.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Superstition renders a man a fool, and scepticism makes him mad.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Look how the world’s poor people are amazed at apparitions, signs, and prodigies!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Superstition, bigotry and prejudice, ghosts though they are, cling tenaciously to life; they are shades armed with tooth and claw. They must be grappled with unceasingly, for it is a fateful part of human destiny that it is condemned to wage perpetual war against ghosts. A shade is not easily taken by the throat and destroyed.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
I had only one superstition. I made sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run.
—Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American Baseball Legend
Mankind are an incorrigible race. Give them but bugbears and idols—it is all that they ask; the distinctions of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood, of good and evil, are worse than indifferent to them.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man. Life and death to him are haunted grounds, filled with goblin forms of vague and shadowy dread.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were early implanted in his imagination; no matter how utterly his reason may reject them, he will still feel as the famous woman did about ghosts, “Je n’y crois pas, mais je les crains,”—“I don’t believe in them, but I am afraid of them, nevertheless”.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
I have, thanks to my travels, added to my stock all the superstitions of other countries. I know them all now, and in any critical moment of my life, they all rise up in armed legions for or against me.
—Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) French Actress
There is in superstition a senseless fear of God.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
To make our idea of morality center on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Literary Hostess
There is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men think they do best if they go farthest from the superstition,—by which means they often take away the good as well as the bad.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The child, taught to believe any occurrence a good or evil omen, or any day of the week lucky, hath a wide in road made upon the soundness of his understanding.
—Isaac Watts (1674–1748) English Hymn writer
We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms. Only in superstition is there hope. If you want to become a friend of civilization, then become an enemy of the truth and a fanatic for harmless balderdash.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
As it addeth deformity to an ape to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion makes it the more deformed.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The worst superstition is to consider our own tolerable.
—Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British Novelist, Poet
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