Heresy Quotes

• Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth.

  H. G. Wells

  Truth, Lying, Men

  H. G. Wells (2000). “Crux Ansata: An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church”, p.15, Book Tree

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• Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.

  Graham Greene

  Political, Doubt, Atheism

  "Freedom of Thought". Speech accepting the Jerusalem Prize, archive.spectator.co.uk. April 06, 1981.

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• The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.

  Helen Keller

  Women, Memorable, Democracy

  Helen Keller (2013). “Optimism: An Essay”, p.19, The Floating Press

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• It is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to dishonor God and to flatter man.

  Charles Spurgeon

  Christian, Men, Church

  Spurgeon, Charles H. (2015). “The Complete Works of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume 6: Sermons 286-347”, p.847, Delmarva Publications, Inc.

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• The desire to rule is the mother of heresies.

  Saint John Chrysostom

  Mother, Desire, Liberty

  Saint John Chrysostom, William John Copeland (1840). “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: And Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians, of S. John Chrysostom ...”, p.81

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• Heresy is a cradle; orthodoxy a coffin.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Coffins, Orthodoxy, Cradle

  Robert Green Ingersoll “Heretics and Heresies: From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'”, Library of Alexandria

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• O heresy in fair, fit for these days,
  A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise.

  William Shakespeare

  Hands, Generosity, Giving

  William Shakespeare (1858). “The Plays of Shakespeare”, p.69

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• Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy

  Tertullian

  Philosophy

  Tertullian (2012). “The Sacred Writings of Tertullian (Annotated Edition)”, p.462, Jazzybee Verlag

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• If we have no heretics we must invent them, for heresy is essential to health and growth.

  Yevgeny Zamyatin

  Growth, Essentials, Literature

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• All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.109, BookBaby

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• By identifying the new learning with heresy, you make orthodoxy synonymous with ignorance.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Ignorance, Orthodoxy, Identifying

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  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

  Education, Confidence, Wisdom

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• I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.

  Martin Luther

  Men, Hands, Wish

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• A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.

  Eric Hoffer

  Spring, Vigor, Literature

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.

  Lysander Spooner

  Freedom, Men, Years

  Lysander Spooner (1973). “No Treason and a Letter to Thomas F. Bayard”

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• In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.

  Learned Hand

  Running, Risk, Ends

  Oliver Wendell Holmes lecture at Harvard in 1958. "The Rhetoric of Our Times" by J. Jeffery Auer, p. 124, 1969.

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• It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.

  Galileo Galilei

  Believe, Soul, Orthodox

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• A man may be an heretic in the truth, and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.

  Frederic Farrar

  Truth, Believe, Men

  Frederic W. Farrar (2003). “History of Interpretation: Bampton Lectures, 1885”, p.16, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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• Progress, this great heresy of decay.

  Charles Baudelaire

  Progress, Decay, Literature

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• According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.

  Naguib Mahfouz

  Islamic, Men, Choices

  FaceBook post by Naguib Mahfouz from Jul 04, 2012

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• Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Inspirational, Motivational, Thinking

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “Practical Vedanta Philosophy”, p.14, editionNEXT.com

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• Very few editors worry about heresy - their goals are much too commercial, thank goodness.

  Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  Editors, Goal, Worry

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• The conscience of the world is so guilty that it always assumes that people who investigate heresies must be heretics; just as if a doctor who studies leprosy must be a leper. Indeed, it is only recently that science has been allowed to study anything without reproach.

  Aleister Crowley

  Doctors, People, World

  "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley". Book by Aleister Crowley. Chapter 17, 1969.

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• If it squares with the Scripture, then let's go. If it's in conflict with the Scripture, then it's heresy.

  Randall Terry

  Squares, Scripture, Conflict

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• O God and Lord, now the council condemns even Your own act and Your own law as heresy, since You Yourself did lay Your cause before Your Father as the just judge, as an example for us, whenever we are sorely oppressed.

  Jan Hus

  Father, Law, Judging

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