Sayings & Quotes

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that.ÔÇØ
Richard Dawkins


ÔÇ£He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.ÔÇØ
Zen Proverb

"Its like any orthodoxy, let it run for a few centuries & what started as something that came from deep inside the human spirit turns into a set of holy texts that stultify thinking. Then people who yearn after the real experience as you do get palmed off with a set of rigid theological propositions - & all that's left to do is read it."
Marion Molteno


"Religion in general and Islam in particular can only be considered liberal and reformed (at face value at least if even that is possible) when it has been pushed in a corner and out of the public space ÔÇô when it has been forced to run soup kitchens rather than courts and Islamic Assemblies.
If you look at Christianity for example, itÔÇÖs not that the tenets, dogma, and principles have changed; it has not become more humane since the days of the inquisition and witch burnings. What has changed is its social and political influence in todayÔÇÖs society, in peopleÔÇÖs lives, in its relation with the state, the law and educational system. To the degree that it has become undermined and weakened, that is the degree that people have managed to free themselves from the clutches of religion, and in having happier lives and a better society. Progressive human values have been achieved at the expense of Christianity and religion."
The Islamic InquisitionÔÇØ Maryam Namazie

[Lilith7]

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."
Buddha


"Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important. Where once it used to be able, by its total command of a worldview, to prevent the emergence of rivals, it can now only impede and retardÔÇöor try to turn backÔÇöthe measurable advances that we have made.
Sometimes, true, it will artfully concede them. But this is to offer itself the choice between irrelevance and obstruction, impotence or outright reaction, and, given this choice, it is programmed to select the worse of the two.
Meanwhile, confronted with undreamed-of vistas inside our own evolving cortex, in the farthest reaches of the known universe, and in proteins and acids which constitute our nature, religion offers either annihilation in the name of god, or else the false promise that if we take a knife to our foreskins, or pray in the right direction, or ingest pieces of wafer, we shall be ÔÇ£saved.ÔÇØ
Christopher Hitchens


"Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jew, Mohammedans, and Christians, among others, man is Master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse to revolt in the downtrodden female."
Simone de Beauvoir

"One of TeresaÔÇÖs most outspoken critics was the English journalist, literary critic and New Atheist Christopher Hitchens, who wrote the extended essay The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1995) and wrote in a 2003 article, ÔÇ£This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence to the poor. [Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.ÔÇØ


ÔÇ£I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever's making the decision to understand that once it's pushed, it's over. Finito.
They're not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won't be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn't just a dress rehearsal for something better -- but the only shot we get.ÔÇØ
Quentin R. Bufogle

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£Once asked why he was prepared to help Christians and Hindus alike, Edhi replied, ÔÇ£because my ambulance is more Muslim than youÔÇØ.
Abdul Sattar Edhi


Oh god if I worship you for fear of hell ,burn me in hell. If I worship you in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship you for your own sake, grudge me not your everlasting beauty.
Rabi ÔÇÿa-Adawiyya
(Sufi)


"The Hopi Indians thought that the world's religions each contained one spiritual thread, & that these threads are always seeking each other, wanting to join. When all the threads are finally woven together they will form a rope that will pull us out of this dark cycle of history. More contemporarily, the Dalai Lama has repeated the same idea, assuring his western students repeatedly that they needn't become Tibetan Buddhists in order to be his pupils. He welcomes them to take whatever ideas they like out of Tibetan Buddhism & integrate these ideas into their own religious practices."
Elizabeth Gilbert

"There have been nearly 3,000 Gods so far but only yours exists. The others are silly, made-up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real"
Ricky Gervais

[Lilith7]

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further"
Richard Dawkins


ÔÇ£Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.ÔÇØ
Blaise Pascal, Pens├®es

ÔÇ£People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.ÔÇØ
Blaise Pascal, De l'art de persuader

ÔÇ£I would prefer an intelligent hell to a stupid paradise.ÔÇØ
Blaise Pascal


ÔÇ£All the vital questions have been dumped in favour of half-baked, po-faced rituals which are basically a form of middle class rain dance. Still, it did give me the chapel scene in The meaning of life.
John Cleese

[Lilith7]

Here's what I think in a single sentence: I think that the real religion is about the understanding that if we can only still our egos for a few seconds, we might have a chance of experiencing something that is divine in nature. But in order to do that, we have to slice away at our egos and try to get them down to a manageable size, and then still work some practiced light meditation. So real religion is about reducing our egos, whereas all the churches are interested in is egotistical activities, like getting as many members and raising as much money and becoming as important and high-profile and influential as possible. All of which are egotistical attitudes. So how can you have an egotistical organization trying to teach a non-egotistical ideal? It makes no sense, unless you regard religion as crowd control. What I think most organized religionÔÇösimply crowd control.
John Cleese


The native American parable of the two wolves
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:

ÔÇ£A fight is going on inside me,ÔÇØ he said to the boy.
ÔÇ£It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evilÔÇôhe is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.ÔÇØ

He continued, ÔÇ£The other is good ÔÇô he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside youÔÇôand inside every other person, too.ÔÇØ

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ÔÇ£Which wolf will win?ÔÇØ

The old Cherokee simply replied, ÔÇ£The one you feed.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My dad was a Catholic, my mum was a Protestant, I was educated by Jews and I am married to a Muslim. So I never say anything about any religion .ÔÇØ
Michael Caine

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[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£No one saves us but ourselves. No one can & no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
Buddha

ÔÇ£Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over & over again.ÔÇØ
Buddha

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£He is a┬áwise┬áman who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Make the best use of whatÔÇÖs in your power and take the rest as it happens.ÔÇØ
Epictetus

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£The whole life of a man is but a point in time; let us enjoy it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Know how to listen and you will profit even from those who talk badly.ÔÇØ
Plutarch

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£One of the most beautiful qualities of true┬áfriendship┬áis to understand and to be understood.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Anger┬áis an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured."
Seneca

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£A gift consists not of what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£True happiness isÔǪ to enjoy the present without┬áanxious┬ádependence on the future.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Count each day as a separate lifeÔÇØ.
Seneca

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£Educating the mind without educating the heart is no┬áeducation┬áat all.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.ÔÇØ
Aristotle

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over the self.ÔÇØ
Aristotle

ÔÇ£Necessity is the mother of invention.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Ignorance is the root and stem of all evil.ÔÇØ
Plato

[Lilith7]

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world."


"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

"ÔÇÄLife is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

ÔÇ£If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.ÔÇØ
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£If thereÔÇÖs life on other planets, then the earth is the UniverseÔÇÖs insane asylum.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.ÔÇØ
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone elseÔÇÖs eyes.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£The right to┬áfree speech┬áis more important than the content of the speech.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.ÔÇØ
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.ÔÇØ


ÔÇ£It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.ÔÇØ
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

ÔÇ£I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ÔÇÿO Lord make my enemies ridiculous.ÔÇÖ And God granted it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Give me the patience for the small things of life,┬ácourage for the great┬átrials of life. Help me to do my best each day and then go to sleep knowing God is awake.ÔÇØ
Voltaire

[Lilith7]

"Love truth, but pardon error.:

"Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day."

"The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood."
Voltaire