Quotes
A curated collection of freethought quotes.
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“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.”Albert Einstein
The New York Times (1930)
“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.”Anonymous
attributed
“And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt his existence.”Bertrand Russell
Why I Am Not a Christian (1927)
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”Bertrand Russell
attributed
“A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world suffers.”Bertrand Russell
attributed
“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World (1995)
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”Carl Sagan
Cosmos (1980)
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”Christopher Hitchens
God Is Not Great (2007)
“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.”Delos McKown
attributed
“Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”Denis Diderot
attributed
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”Epicurus
attributed (c. 300 BCE)
“Faith means not wanting to know what is true.”Friedrich Nietzsche
The Antichrist (1888)
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”Galileo Galilei
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)
“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”George Bernard Shaw
attributed
“The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”H.L. Mencken
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”Isaac Asimov
attributed
“If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words.”Isaac Asimov
I, Asimov: A Memoir (1994)
“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.”Isaac Asimov
attributed
“If I could not be free, I would not live at all.”John Stuart Mill
On Liberty (1859)
“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”John Stuart Mill
On Liberty (1859)
“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way.”John Stuart Mill
On Liberty (1859)
“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race.”John Stuart Mill
On Liberty (1859)
“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”Neil deGrasse Tyson
Real Time with Bill Maher (2011)
“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
The God Delusion (2006)
“The destroyer of weeds, thistles and thorns is a benefactor, whether he soweth grain or not.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Gods (1872)
“I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.”Robert G. Ingersoll
attributed
“The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church.”Robert G. Ingersoll
Individuality (1873)
“An honest God is the noblest work of man.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Gods (1872)
“Every cradle asks us 'Whence?' and every coffin 'Whither?' The poor barbarian, weeping above his dead, can answer these questions just as well as the robed priest of the most authentic creed.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Gods (1872)
“If we are honest — if we are courageous — we must follow reason wherever it leads.”Robert G. Ingersoll
attributed
“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.”Robert G. Ingersoll
Some Mistakes of Moses (1879)
“The clergy know, that I know, that they know, that they do not know.”Robert G. Ingersoll
Works, Vol. 2 — epigraph
“In all ages, hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns upon the heads of thieves, called kings.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child (1877)
“The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.”Robert G. Ingersoll
attributed
“If there be a God, I think he would like me to paint him as I see him, not as some book says he is.”Robert G. Ingersoll
attributed
“Reason, observation, and experience — the Holy Trinity of Science.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Gods (1872)
“The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Gods (1872)
“Over the vast plain of the unconscious the obedient lightning wrote the fiery epitaph of all rebellion.”Robert G. Ingersoll
The Ghosts (1877)
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”Seneca the Younger
attributed (c. 50 CE)
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot.”Thomas Jefferson
Letter to Horatio Spafford (1814)
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”Thomas Jefferson
Letter to Peter Carr (1787)
“I have examined all the known superstitions of the world and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature.”Thomas Jefferson
attributed
“My own mind is my own church.”Thomas Paine
The Age of Reason (1794)
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”Thomas Paine
The Crisis (1776)
“These are the times that try men's souls.”Thomas Paine
The American Crisis (1776)
“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”Thomas Paine
Rights of Man (1791)
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of.”Thomas Paine
The Age of Reason (1794)
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”Voltaire
Questions sur les miracles (1765)