There - Quotes
The religious reply to the moral sceptic`s question, `Why should I behave in such-and-such a way?` is simply `Because God requires it of you.` But this is merely a polite way of saying, `Because you`ll be punished if you don`t. [...] But a threat is never a logical justification for acting one way rather than another. If there exists a deity with the punitive vengefulness of the Judaeo-Christian variety, then it might be prudent to obey it, and thus avoid the flames of hell; but the threat of punishment is not a principled reason for obedience.
Your heart`s desire is to be told some mystery. The mystery is that there is no mystery.
I chose to love my friends. I chose to love my wife. I think I even chose to love my parents as I got older. But I had no say in loving my children. The love for my children is beyond my control. It`s animal. It`s like hunger. It`s more than hunger - there have been times I could control my hunger [...]. I love my children like I need to breathe.
Life`s short. Anything could happen, and it usually does, so there is no point in sitting around thinking about all the ifs, ands and buts.
People are told that they are inherently bad or sinful and that the only way to become good is by giving over control of their lives to faith. As there is no evidence that any of that is true, religion, in effect, is creating an imaginary problem simply so that it can sell an imaginary solution.
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.
There is no evidence to suggest that God helps people. There is, however, ample evidence that people can help themselves and each other.
There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs, but it doesn`t stop people from going out and buying Dobermans.
If you genuinely loved God, wouldn`t you want to understand him as best you can? When faced with different ideas about God, wouldn`t you want to ask some questions, and look at the supporting evidence for the different views, and try to figure out which one is probably true? Doesn`t it seem insulting to God to treat that question as if it didn`t matter? There are profound differences between religions. They are not trivial. And the different religions cannot all be right. (Although, as atheists like to point out, they can all be wrong.)
Even in the most beautiful music there are some silences, which are there so we can witness the importance of silence.
Life is not stable. There is a great strength that comes from not being shocked or scared by upheavals.
There are actresses who build themselves, and then there are actresses who are built by others.
There are always outside forces trying to tell you what to do. (...) Shut yourself off from anyone who wants to run the show, and run it yourself.