Belief - Quotes
The difference between insanity and belief lies only in the number of believers.
This idea that belief without evidence is a virtue... it doesn`t just inspire people to trust their religious leaders blindly. It inspires people to trust anybody blindly. Including people who are trying to rob them blind.
The only necessary argument against believing in God is simply that there is no evidence that any gods exist. An atheist doesn`t need to justify her lack of belief any further.
The stronger your beliefs are, the less open you are to growth and wisdom, because "strength of belief" is only the intensity with which you resist questioning yourself.
A difference between an atheist and a person of faith is that an atheist is willing to revise their belief (if provided sufficient evidence); the faithful permit no such revision.
If things go the believer`s way, it`s a sign of God`s grace and intervention; if they don`t, then God moves in mysterious ways, and maybe he has a lesson to teach that we don`t understand, and it`s not up to us to question his will. No matter what happens, it can be twisted to prove that the belief is right. That is a sure sign of a bad argument.
A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death.
People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
We are always trying to convert people to a belief in our own explanation of the universe. We think that the more people there are who believe as we do, the more certain it will be that what we believe is the truth. But it doesn`t work that way at all.
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.