Subtle Atheist Quotes - Page 2

• Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

  Douglas Adams

  Beauty, Beautiful, Religious

  Douglas Adams (2009). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.79, Pan Macmillan

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• To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?

  Christopher Hitchens

  Inspirational, Motivational, Atheist

  Christopher Hitchens (2011). “Hitchens vs Blair”, p.9, Random House

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• I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.

  Galileo Galilei

  Spiritual, Atheist, Believe

  "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina". Essay by Galileo Galilei, 1615.

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Science, Theoretical Physics

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987.

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• The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.

  Douglas Adams

  Humor, Science, Thinking

  Douglas Adams (2005). “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time”, p.131, Del Rey

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• Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Atheist, Science, Religion

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• There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

  Douglas Adams

  Funny, Education, Humor

  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "Fit the Seventh" (radio program) (1978)

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• One must state it plainly. Religion comes from the period of human pre-history where nobody - not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms - had the smallest idea what was going on.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Ideas, Infancy Is, Matter

  Christopher Hitchens (2011). “God is Not Great”, p.49, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Atheist, Atheism, Cognitive Dissonance

  Christopher Hitchens (2007). “The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever”, p.480, Da Capo Press

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• I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Believe, Thinking

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.245, Ballantine Books

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• How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?

  Carl Sagan

  Prophet, Subtle, Bigger

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.71, Ballantine Books

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• Today the least educated of my children knows much more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion, and one would think-though the connection is not a fully demonstrable one-that this is why they seem so uninterested in sending fellow humans to hell.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Children, Thinking, Order

  Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume”, p.67, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

  Carl Sagan

  God, Science, Religion

  "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space". Book by Carl Sagan, 1994.

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• The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Motivational, Song, Atheist

  Christopher Hitchens (2007). “The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever”, p.480, Da Capo Press

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• Religion comes from the period of human prehistory where nobody - not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms - had the smallest idea of what was going on. It comes from the bawling and fearful infancy of our species, and is a babyish attempt to meet our inescapable demand for knowledge. Today the least educated of my children knows much more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Children, Order, Ideas

  Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume”, p.67, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely soley upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Atheist, Science, Ideas

  Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume”, p.13, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• Thus, though I dislike to differ with such a great man, Voltaire was simply ludicrous when he said that if god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. The human invention of god is the problem to begin with.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Atheist, Men, Atheism

  Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume”, p.96, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Motivational, Atheist, Religion

  Christopher Hitchens (2011). “God is Not Great”, p.75, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Learning, Humility

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference in 1987. "Do Science and the Bible Conflict?" Book by Judson Poling, p. 30, 2003.

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• How dismal it is to see present day Americans yearning for the very orthodoxy that their country was founded to escape.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Country, Atheist, Atheism

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• God is subtle but he is not malicious.

  Albert Einstein

  Life, Motivational, Math

  Remark made during a week at Princeton beginning 9 May 1921, later carved above the fireplace of the Common Room of Fine Hall (the Mathematical Institute), Princeton University - in R. W. Clark Einstein (1973) ch. 14

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