Quotes from Famous Freethinkers

[Thumper]

How about posting some of your favorite quotes that speak to non-theism, Humanism, freethought, etc.

I'm not looking for a lot of discussion here, just some positive quotes that you like.

 

[Thumper]

“In the melting pot called America, we are one nation under the Constitution … but not one nation under God. Given how the religious right opposes the teaching of evolution or any scientific and social view that conflicts with a literal interpretation of the Bible, we are really becoming one nation undereducated. And that is not an American value to be proud of.”~ Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America

 

[Thumper]

"We never hold religion up to standards of reasonableness. If we did, what religion could pass? Christian Scientists won't go to the doctor. Jehovah's Witnesses forbid singing the national anthem and buying Girl Scout cookies. Radical Islamists blow themselves up to meet virgins in heaven. The Hindus have their cow. People believe in all kinds of things. It is their right to do so under the First Amendment.

"And I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of this freedom of religion thing ... When did religion get such a good name, anyway? Be it the Crusades, the Reformation genocides, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the Middle East, mass slaughters supposedly in the name of Allah, and then, of course, the obligatory reciprocal retribution.

"Hundreds of millions of people have died in religious conflicts. Hitler did his business in the name of his Creator. 9/11 was an act of religious extremism. It's our greatest threat today - a Holy Jihad.

"If we're not ready to strip religion of its sacred cow status, how 'bout we at least scale back a little on the constitutional dogma exalting it as all get-out?...

"Everybody should get to believe in God. Pray to his God, worship his God - of course. But to impose him on others, to victimize others in His Name, the Founding Fathers of this country set out to prevent persecution, not to license it.

"At a certain point, we have to say,'Enough with this freedom of religion crap.' Yuck. Yuck, yuck." ~ Alan Shore, partner, Law Offices of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt (Boston Legal)

 

[Revoltingest]

Some of my favorite quotes are the original pre-deity themed coinage mottoes....

 

[Estro Felino]

Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own intelligence. That is the motto of Enlightenment.
I. Kant

Le fanatisme est à la superstition ce que le transport est à la fièvre, ce que la rage à la colère. Celui qui a des extases, des visions, qui a des songes pour des réalités, et des imaginations pour des prophéties, est un enthousiaste. Celui qui soutient sa folie par le meurtre est un fanatique.
Voltaire, Dictionnaire philosophique

écrasez l'infame!. (Voltaire, meaning that the phantom of religious fanaticism and intolerance must be suppressed)

Der Mensch ist ein Seil, geknuepft zwischen Tier und Uebermensch. Ein Seil ueber dem Abgrunde.
Gott ist tot. Es lebe der Uebermensch
F.W.Nietzsche

 

[BSM1]

"Maybe we ain't us..."
~The Little Rascals

 

[Revoltingest]

 

[Skwim]

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
Bertrand Russell

.​

 

[Revoltingest]

Some good ones from Kurt Vonnegut.....
"So it goes." (This is the polite version of another favorite from someone else, "S**t happens.".)
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

 

[Thumper]

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so." ~ Mark Twain

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me -- it's the parts that I do understand." ~ Mark Twain

 

[Thumper]

“George Bush says he speaks to God every day, and Christians love him for it. If George Bush said he spoke to God through his hair dryer, they would think he was mad. I fail to see how the addition of a hair dryer makes it any more absurd.” – Sam Harris

 

[Thumper]

“I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.” ~ John F. Kennedy speaking to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

 

[Thumper]

"I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being"
~ Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith

 

[Jedster]

“Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around”
― Penn Jillette

 

[Thumper]

“No, you can't deny women their basic rights and pretend it's about your 'religious freedom'. If you don't like birth control, don't use it. Religious freedom doesn't mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs.”~ President Barack Obama

 

[Thumper]

“I am an atheist, out and out.

"It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic.

"I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist.

"I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.”~ Isaac Asimov

 

[Thumper]

"I always think it's a sign of victory when they move on to the ad hominem." ~ Christopher Hitchens

 

[Revoltingest]

 

[Jeremiahcp]

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

[Jeremiahcp]

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." Albert Camus

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." Albert Camus

And one of my all time favorites:

"At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face." Albert Camus