Believe - Quotes
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
It is not long in historical terms since Christian priests were burning people at the stake if they did not believe that wine turns to blood when a priest prays over it, and that the earth sits immovably at the universe`s centre, or [...] since they were whipping people and slitting their noses and ears for having sex outside marriage [...]. To this day adulterers are stoned to death in certain Muslim countries; if the priests were still on top in the once-Christian world, who can say it would be different?
Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time. It is therefore at least millions to one that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie.
If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth. The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology. Acceptance of the supernatural conveyed a great advantage throughout prehistory, when the brain was evolving. Thus it is in sharp contrast to biology, which was developed as a product of the modern age and is not underwritten by genetic algorithms. The uncomfortable truth is that the two beliefs are not factually compatible. As a result those who hunger for both intellectual and religious truth will never acquire both in full measure.
I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life - our desire to go on living - our dread of coming to an end.
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
We`ve all had experiences where we were working on something and we knew it was possible and we did those things that were necessary to bring it into reality, we took the responsibility to make it happen. Other people couldn`t see it, lot of people didn`t believe it. You were talked down, you were criticized, people were opposing you but you kept on doing it. It was hard, it was rough, it was difficult but to you it was worth it. And eventually you got to a level you know ain`t nothing can stop me know. I`m on the move. I`m on the move.
Consequently, if you believe God made Satan, you must realize that all Satan`s power comes from God and so that Satan is simply God`s child, and that we are God`s children also. There are no children of Satan, really.
The chief deficiency I see in the skeptical movement is its polarization: Us vs. Them - the sense that we have a monopoly on the truth; that those other people who believe in all these stupid doctrines are morons; that if you`re sensible, you`ll listen to us; and if not, to hell with you. This is nonconstructive. It does not get our message across. It condemns us to permanent minority status.
It`s always seemed to me, after all, that Christmas, with its spirit of giving, offers us all a wonderful opportunity each year to reflect upon what we all most sincerely and deeply believe in. I refer, of course, to money.
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
Scientists do not join hands every Sunday and sing "Yes gravity is real! I know gravity is real! I will have faith! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen!" If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about the concept.
It is almost as if the human brain were specifically designed to misunderstand Darwinism, and to find it hard to believe.
It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.
I don`t believe in God now... I can still work up an envy for someone who has a faith. I can see how that could be a deeply soothing experience.