Zealotry Quotes

• I must say that when I first learned of the existence of the Australian Greenhouse Office, I assumed it was responsible for supplying tomatoes to the Parliament House kitchen. But, no, as I soon learnt as industry minister, it was in fact a government funded redoubt of veritable soldiers in a war against carbon dioxide. The zealotry and obsessive passion of these warriors in the battle against the apparent evils of carbon dioxide remains a curiosity to me. After fighting these people for three years as industry minister, I really did wish they would just go away and grow tomatoes.

  Nick Minchin

  War, Passion, Fighting

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• From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.

  Salman Rushdie

  Men, Used, Justify

  Salman Rushdie (1989). “The Satanic Verses”, New York, N.Y. : Viking

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• I'm for open-mindedness and tolerance. I'm against any form of fanaticism, fundamentalism or zealotry, and this certainty of 'We have the truth.' The truth is far too large and complex. Nobody has the truth.

  Philip Pullman

  Tolerance, Truth Is, Form

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• To the American people I say, awaken to what is happening. It is the duty of each citizen to be vigilant, to protect liberty, to speak out, left and right and disagree lest be trampled underfoot by misguided zealotry and extreme partisanship.

  Robert Byrd

  Speaks Out, People, Liberty

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• A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Science, Ideas

  "Contact". Book by Carl Sagan. Chapter 14, p. 244, 1985.

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• Moderation is a wiser policy than zealotry

  Christopher Paolini

  Moderation, Wiser, Policy

  Christopher Paolini (2014). “The Inheritance Cycle Complete Collection: Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance”, p.1508, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• The unmistakable lesson is that such is the myopic zealotry of environmentalists like Obama that they would implement policies virtually guaranteed to harm our economy significantly, even when they offer no promise of appreciable environmental benefits.

  David Limbaugh

  Promise, Environmental, Myopic

  "Reckless, Quixotic Fantasies". townhall.com. March 4, 2011.

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• The intellectual ... may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence.

  Richard Hofstadter

  Essence, Ideas, Intellectual

  Richard Hofstadter (2012). “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life”, p.29, Vintage

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• The enemy of idealism is zealotry.

  Neil Kinnock

  Enemy, Idealism, Ideals

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• There's nothing more dangerous than a panicked politician.

  James Zogby

  Politician, Danger, Closed Minded

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• There is nothing more dangerous than a humiliated man.

  Nelson Mandela

  Men, Danger, Closed Minded

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• Apparently there's nothing more dangerous than a religious criminal.

  James Cook

  Religious, Criminals, Danger

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• There's nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot.

  Scott Adams

  Idiot, Dilbert, Danger

  Scott Adams (2007). “Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!: Cartoonist Explains Cloning, Blouse Monsters, Voting Machines, Romance, Monkey G ods, How to Avoid Being Mistaken for a Rodent, and More”, p.439, Penguin

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• There is nothing more dangerous than a lazy parent.

  Wes Fesler

  Parenting, Lazy, Laziness

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• There is nothing more dangerous than security.

  Francis Walsingham

  Historical, Danger, Closed Minded

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• There’s nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm.

  Christina Aguilera

  Boys, Danger, Charm

  Song: Candyman, Album: Back to Basics, 2006

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• Yes, the money could be better spent on Earth. But would it? Since when has money saved by government redlining been spent on education and cancer research? It is always squandered. Let's squander some on Mars. Let's go out and play.

  Mary Roach

  Cancer, Government, Play

  Mary Roach (2011). “Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in Space”, p.174, Oneworld Publications

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• We humans are naturally disposed to worship gods and heroes, to build our pantheons and valhallas. I would rather see that impulse directed into the adoration of daft singers, thicko footballers and air-headed screen actors than into the veneration of dogmatic zealots, fanatical preachers, militant politicians and rabid cultural commentators.

  Stephen Fry

  Hero, Air, Valhalla

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• I'm convinced that the most important division in human affairs is probably not the one between left and right, liberal and conservative. It's the one between zealotry and understanding, between absolute conviction and compromise, between preachers and politicians.

  Bill Keller

  Understanding, Important, Division

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• Nobody wants zealotry in a police force, you know? You do want to know that the guy who's got that badge, is confident enough to judge a certain level of benign corruption. Like a man steals some food to feed his starving children.

  Russell Crowe

  Children, Men, Judging

  "American Gangster, The Russell Crowe Interview: On Jail, Justice And Jive Talk To Babes On The Weight Of A Man". Interview with Prairie Miller, newsblaze.com. October 29, 2007.

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• I believe our techno-zealotry will be moderated by sheer circumstance. We will do what reality compels us to do, not necessarily what our fantasies propose.

  James Howard Kunstler

  Believe, Reality, Fantasy

  Interview With Simmons B. Buntin, www.terrain.org.

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• The nobility of the human spirit grows harder for me to believe in. War, zealotry, greed, malls, narcissism. I see a backhanded nobility in excessive, impractical outlays of cash prompted by nothing loftier than a species joining hands and saying “I bet we can do this.” Yes, the money could be better spent on Earth. But would it? Since when has money saved by government red-lining been spent on education and cancer research? It is always squandered. Let’s squander some on Mars. Let’s go out and play.

  Mary Roach

  War, Cancer, Believe

  Mary Roach (2011). “Packing for Mars”, p.174, Oneworld Publications

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• The gun-control crusade today is like the Prohibition crusade 100 years ago. It is a shared zealotry that binds the self-righteous know-it-alls in a warm fellowship of those who see themselves as fighting on the side of the angels against the forces of evil. It is a lofty role that they are not about to give up for anything so mundane as facts - or even the lives of other people.

  Thomas Sowell

  Giving Up, Angel, Fighting

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• Pat Buchanan... was fired by MSNBC for doing nothing more than voicing his rock-solid conservative thoughts on the otherwise failing network... The real message of the left is intolerance, zealotry, bigotry and hate. The left has no use for the First Amendment or the rest of the Constitution unless it fits their multicultural, euro-socialist agenda, which is failing all across Europe and everywhere it is practiced.

  Ted Nugent

  Real, Hate, Rocks

  Washington Times, February 20, 2012.

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• Legal ethics is a misnomer ... lawyers conducting themselves legally are not necessarily conducting themselves morally ."...and ..."The zero sum nature of the legal system, combined with the universal adoption of zealotry as the marching orders of practioners and prosecutors, transforms the moral mission of the legal system from one of truth-seeking, storytelling, and justice, to one of fabrication, distortion, and manipulation in pursuit of victory. These victories, however, make us all losers.

  Thane Rosenbaum

  Zero, Order, Justice

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