A religion that has lost its basic conviction about the interconnection of men with men in their common struggles for the human, will never command belief in the realm of the superhuman. Max Lerner
The belief that becomes truth for me is that which allows me the best use of my strength, the best means of putting my virtues into action. Andre Gide
Religion should be disentangled as much as possible from history and authority and metaphysics, and made to rest honestly on one’s fine feelings, on one’s indomitable optimism and trust in life. Santayana
The fact of the religious vision, and its history of persistent expansion, is our one ground for optimism. Apart from it, human life is a flash of occasional enjoyments lighting up a mass of pain and misery, a bagatelle of transient experience. Alfred North Whitehead
A key to the understanding of all religions is that a God’s idea of a good time is a game of Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs. Terry Pratchett
We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavor to erase them. Goethe
In religion above all things the only thing of use is an objective truth. The only god that is of use is a being who is personal, supreme and good, and whose existence is as certain as that two and two make four. Somerset Maugham
Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion. Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science. Gary Zukav
One of my less pleasant chores when I was young was to read the Bible from one end to the other. Reading the Bible straight through is at least 70 percent discipline, like learning Latin. But the good parts are, of course, simply amazing. God is an extremely uneven writer, but when He’s good, nobody can touch Him. John Gardner
If religion does not make us better people, it will make us very much worse. And of all the bad men who have lived, the religious “bad man” is the worst of all. C S Lewis
It is natural for the mind to believe, and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to the false. Pascal
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible. Bertrand Russell
Belief indeed enlightens, terrifies, subdues; it give faith, it inflicts remorse, it inspires resolutions, it draws tears, it inflames devotion, but only for the occasion. John Henry Newman
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. Albert Einstein
Hope looks for unqualified success; but faith counts certainly on failure, and takes honorable defeat to be a form of victory. Robert Louis Stevenson
It is desire that engenders belief and if we fail as a rule to take this into account, it is because most of the desires that create beliefs end only with our own death. Marcel Proust
Can one be a saint without God? This is the problem I know of today. Albert Camus
Grace is indeed needed to turn a man into a saint; and he who doubts it does not know what a saint or a man is. Pascal
It is well that the stately synagogue should lift its walls by the side of the aspiring cathedral, a perpetual reminder that there are many mansions in Father’s earthly house as well as in the heavenly ones. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Religion pervades intensely the whole frame of society, and is according to the temper of the mind which it inhabits, a passion, a persuasion, an excuse, a refuge; never a check. Shelley
The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a nation to action is one of mankind’s oldest illusions. Andrew Hacker
We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, yes, even when we know not, mix our spites, and private hates with our defense of heaven. Alfred Lord Tennyson
Religion is something infinitely simple, ingenious. It is not Knowledge, not content of feeling, it is not duty and not renunciation, it is not restriction, but in the infinite extent of the universe it is a direction of the heart. Rainer Maria Rilke
Faith consists in believing not what seems true, but what seems false to our understanding. Voltaire
Politics, like religion, hold up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error. Thomas Jefferson
Religion is always a patron of the arts, but its taste is by no means impeccable. Aldous Huxley
Faith in our savior is so great a thing that it is right that those who will not take the trouble to seek it, if it be obscure, should be deprived of it. Pascal
The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves criminals, and impeach their better actions. Pascal
It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig. Santayana
Religion is indeed a convention which a man must be bred in to endure with any patience; and yet for all its poetic motley, comes closer than work-a-day opinion to the heart of things. Santayana
Without their fictions the truths of faiths would for the multitude be neither intelligible nor even apprehensible; and the prophets would prophesy and the teachers teach in vain. George Bernard Shaw
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. Napoleon
The founders of the great religions, Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Lao-Tzu, Muhammad, all seem to have striven for a worldwide brotherhood of man; but none of them could develop institutions which would include the enemy, the unbeliever. Geoffrey Gore
Will thy not take the doubts of our children whom the time commands to try all things in the place of the unquestioning faith of earlier generations. Oliver Wendell Holmes
A believer, a mind whose faith is consciousness, is never disturbed because other persons do not yet see the fact which he sees. Emerson
Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition. Alan Turing
One man finds in religion his literature and science, another finds in it his joy and his duty. Joseph Joubert
We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. H. L. Mencken
True religion is slow in growth, and, when once planted, is difficult of dislodgement; but its intellectual counterfeit has no root in itself; it springs up suddenly, it suddenly withers. John Henry Newman
The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us. Mario Cuomo
To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine. Emerson
The worship of god is not a rule of safety; it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable. Alfred North Whitehead
There is only one true faith, though there are a hundred versions of it. George Bernard Shaw.
All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance, ferocity; and modern religions are only ancient follies rejuvenated. Baron D’Holbach
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. Bertrand Russell
The scripture in time of disputes is like an open town in time of war, which serves indifferently the occasions of both parties. Alexander Pope
The heathen is a benighted creature who has the folly to worship something that he can see and feel. Ambrose Bierce
