#gnostic

As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#agnosticism #atheism #atheist #philosophy #equality

There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies? ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#any #bottom #evidence #fairies #garden

I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic'. ↗

— Thomas Huxley

#appropriate #conceived #i #invented #thought

Agnosticism has nothing to impart. Its sermons are the exhortations of one who convinces you he stands on nothing and urges you to stand there too. ↗

— Anna Julia Cooper

#convinces #exhortations #impart #nothing #sermons

I don't think I've ever been an agnostic. I've always thought there's a superior power, that this is not the real world and that there's a world to come. ↗

— Bob Dylan

#always #been #come #ever #i

His mother and father were agnostics, and Jim respected devout Christians in the same way that he respected people who were members of the Graf Zeppelin Club or shopped at the Chinese department stores, for their mastery of an exotic foreign ritual. Besides, those who worked hardest for others, like Mrs. Philips and Mrs. Gilmour and Dr. Ransome, often held beliefs that turned out to be correct. ↗

— J.G. Ballard

#chinese-department-stores #christianity #the-graf-zeppelin-club #respect

Practically all the prominent leaders of thought in China today are openly agnostics and even atheists. ↗

— Hu Shih

#atheists #china #even #leaders #openly

Another important historical factor is the fact that this already very simple religion was further simplified and purified by the early philosophers of ancient China. Our first great philosopher was a founder of naturalism; and our second great philosopher was an agnostic. ↗

— Hu Shih

#already #ancient #another #china #early

You happen to be talking to an agnostic. You know what an agnostic is? A cowardly atheist. ↗

— Studs Terkel

#atheist #cowardly #happen #know #talking

All of the great empires of the future will be empires of the mind. ↗

— Winston Churchill

#kingdom #prognostication #inspirational