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Fun Quotes for MoF

Posted by xJane on January 4th, 2008 at 9:59 am · 6 Comments

I ran across these at the bottom of emails I was reading this morning and wanted to share:

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, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

Sometimes I think about this when I think of how we humans create our gods. Some are the ultimate in perfection and some have just about every human vice imaginable. The perfect ones are still responsible for an imperfect world. Perhaps believing that our gods are just as human as we are makes it easier to worship them. There’s a line from the Last Unicorn about how things that cannot die cannot really live. Perhaps that’s why our gods are imperfect: so that they can be real to us.

I learn that ten percent of all the world’s species are parasitic insects. It is hard to believe. What if you were an inventor, and you made ten percent of your inventions in such a way that they could only work by harnessing, disfiguring or totally destroying the other ninety percent?

-Annie Dillard, author (b. 1945)

This just reminds me of the Ten Things‘ naked cat.

What the mind doesn’t understand, it worships or fears.

-Alice Walker, author (b. 1944)

Ain’t that the truth…

All ideas are already in the brain, just as all statues are in the marble.

-Carlo Dossi, author and diplomat (1849-1910)

A little Socratic method to wrap it all up. Truth with a capital “t” is carried in our hearts. Sometimes all we need is a chisel. Sometimes we need dynamite. But it’s there, if we could only see it.

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Tags: Atheism · Doubt

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Rich // Jan 4, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    I can’t remember if I’ve shared the following quote with you before, but since you’re a Sagan fan, I can’t help myself (I love it):

    “In its encounter with Nature, science invariably elicits a sense of reverence and awe. The very act of understanding is a celebration of joining, merging, even if on a very modest scale, with the magnificence of the Cosmos… Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”
    -Carl Sagan

  • 2 John // Jan 4, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    Rich, I’m not sure if xJane idolizes Sagan as much as I do, but thank you for this beautiful quote. I wrote this post before reading your comment. We are eerily in sync. :)

  • 3 Rich // Jan 6, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    Just came across this gem:

    “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” -Thomas Jefferson

  • 4 xJane // Jan 9, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Another:

    Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.

    -Miguel de Unamuno, philosopher and writer (1864-1936)

  • 5 Winter (2007-08) Quotes Roundup « darwinian remiix // Mar 20, 2008 at 4:34 am

    […] Annie Dillard, author (b. 1945): I learn that ten percent of all the world’s species are parasitic insects. It is hard to believe. What if you were an inventor, and you made ten percent of your inventions in such a way that they could only work by harnessing, disfiguring or totally destroying the other ninety percent? via […]

  • 6 More Fun Quotes for MoF | Mind on Fire // Jun 30, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    […] been collecting emails since the success of the last Fun Quotes post. Without further ado: A myth is a religion in which no one any longer […]

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