Fanatics Quotes

• In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Believe, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.119

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• The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.

  Denis Diderot

  People, Religion, Atheism

  "Conversations with a Christian Lady". "Selected Writings", edited by Lester G. Crocker, 1966.

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• You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission.

  Flannery O'Connor

  Confusing, Quitting, Madness

  Flannery O'Connor (2007). “The Violent Bear It Away: A Novel”, p.165, Macmillan

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• Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

  Edward Gibbon

  Feelings, Humanity, Emotion

  Edward Gibbon (1998). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.814, Wordsworth Editions

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• Fanaticism, the false fire of an overheated mind.

  William Cowper

  Fire, Mind, Fanaticism

  William Cowper (1815). “Poems”, p.245

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• The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Long, Leader

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• Evil is international and the fanatic is international and universal. There is no difference between a Muslim fanatic, a Christian fanatic, even a secular fanatic.

  Marjane Satrapi

  Christian, Differences, Evil

  Source: www.indiewire.com

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• When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

  H. L. Mencken

  Peace, War, Limits

  "The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations" edited by Antony Jay, 1996.

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• Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wisdom, Religious, Freedom

  "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment". "God in the Dock". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1970.

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• One man with an idea in his head is in danger of being considered a madman: two men with the same idea in common may be foolish, but can hardly be mad; ten men sharing an idea begin to act, a hundred draw attention as fanatics, a thousand and society begins to tremble, a hundred thousand and there is war abroad, and the cause has victories tangible and real; and why only a hundred thousand? Why not a hundred million and peace upon the earth? You and I who agree together, it is we who have to answer that question.

  William Morris

  Real, War, Men

  William Morris, Norman Kelvin (1999). “William Morris on Art and Socialism”, p.127, Courier Corporation

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• It must be remembered that in those great days I was considered to be an "integrationist" - this was never, quite, my own idea of myself - and Malcolm was considered to be a "racist in reverse." This formulation, in terms of power - and power is the arena in which racism is acted out - means absolutely nothing: it may even be described as a cowardly formulation. The powerless, by definition, can never be "racists," for they can never make the world pay for what they feel or fear except by the suicidal endeavor which makes them fanatics or revolutionaries, or both.

  James A. Baldwin

  Suicidal, Mean, Ideas

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• Fanatics are defined by their hatreds; free people by their humanity.

  William J. Clinton

  People, Hatred, Humanity

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• Leto turned a hard stare at Kynes. And Kynes, returning the stare, found himself troubled by a fact he had observed here: This Duke was concerned more over the men than he was over the spice. He risked his own life, and that of his son to save the men. He passed off the loss of a spice crawler with a gesture. The threat to men's lives had him in a rage. A leader such as that would command fanatic loyalty. He would be difficult to defeat. Against his own will and all previous judgements, Kynes admitted to himself: I like this Duke.

  Frank Herbert

  Loyalty, Son, Loss

  Frank Herbert (2003). “Dune”, p.115, Penguin

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• Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter.

  Thomas Paine

  Atheist, Heart, Mean

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• A fanatic, either, religious or political, is the subject of strong delusions.

  Richard Whately

  Religious, Strong, Political

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• What will the preachers say? .. to teach men not to persecute men: for, while a few sanctimonious humbugs are burning a few fanatics, the earth opens and swallows up all alike.

  Voltaire

  Men, Burning, Earth

  Francois Voltaire (1977). “The Portable Voltaire”, p.348, Penguin

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• For Poesy alone can tell her dreams, With the fine spell of words alone can save Imagination from the sable charm And dumb enchantment. Who alive can say, ‘Thou art no Poet may’st not tell thy dreams?’ Since every man whose soul is not a clod Hath visions, and would speak, if he had loved And been well nurtured in his mother tongue. Whether the dream now purpos’d to rehearse Be poet’s or fanatic’s will be known When this warm scribe my hand is in the grave.

  John Keats

  Mother, Dream, Art

  John Keats (2015). “The Complete Poetry of John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn + Ode to a Nightingale + Hyperion + Endymion + The Eve of St. Agnes + Isabella + Ode to Psyche + Lamia + Sonnets and more from one of the most beloved English Romantic poets”, p.758, e-artnow

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• John McCain will follow the fanatics to their caves in Pakistan or to the gates of hell. What Obama wants to do is give them a place setting at the table.

  Mike Huckabee

  Giving, Pakistan, Caves

  Mike Huckabee's Speech at the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, www.politico.com. September 3, 2008.

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• The more fantastic an ideology or theology, the more fanatic its adherents.

  Edward Abbey

  Fantastic, Theology, Ideology

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.9, RosettaBooks

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• No civilisation can grow unless fanatics, bloodshed, and brutality stop. No civilisation can begin to lift up its head until we look charitably upon one another; and the first step towards that much-needed charity is to look charitably and kindly upon the religious convictions of others. Nay more, to understand that not only should we be charitable, but positively helpful to each other, however different our religious ideas and convictions may be.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Religious, Ideas, Different

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.1111, Manonmani Publishers

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• I'm not a truthiness fanatic, I'm truthiness's father.

  Stephen Colbert

  Father

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• You must also remember that the world has God to govern it, and He has not left it to our charity. The Lord God is its Governor and Maintainer, and in spite of these wine fanatics and cigar fanatics, and all sorts of marriage fanatics, it would go on. If all these persons were to die, it would go on none the worse.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Wine, Goes On, World

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.2203, Manonmani Publishers

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• The principal sponsors of the terrorists are not religious fanatics. "Palestine's Yasser Arafat, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and Syria's Assad family have made themselves the icons of Islamism despite the fact that they are well-known atheists who live un-Muslim lives and have persecuted unto death the Muslim movements in their countries."

  William F. Buckley, Jr.

  Country, Religious, Atheist

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• God knows when the end of time will come, not some fanatic... The world will end someday, but the end of the world and the end of time are two different things.

  Dolly Parton

  Two, Different, World

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• I've always been a prog rock fanatic, even before Vengeance. However I think I started to love the genre with Pink Floyd, yeah. I love them from the very beginning, also the Syd Barrett era.

  Arjen Anthony Lucassen

  Thinking, Rocks, Eras

  "Arjen Lucassen: Human Or Intergalatic Space Crusader?". Interview with Igor Italiani, progressiveworld.net. April 2002.

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