#gnostic

The agnostic does not simply say, "l do not know." He goes another step, and he says, with great emphasis, that you do not know. He insists that you are trading on the ignorance of others, and on the fear of others. He is not satisfied with saying that you do not know, -- he demonstrates that you do not know, and he drives you from the field of fact -- he drives you from the realm of reason -- he drives you from the light, into the darkness of conjecture -- into the world of dreams and shadows, and he compels you to say, at last, that your faith has no foundation in fact. ↗

— Robert G. Ingersoll

#atheism #fact #facts #knowledge #reason

What we do in every other area of our lives (other than religion), is, rather than respect somebody's beliefs, we evaluate their reasons. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

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

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

— Winston Churchill

#kingdom #prognostication #inspirational

The Fundamentalist Christians have told me that I am a slave of Satan and should have my demons expelled with an exorcism. The Fundamentalist Materialists inform me that I am a liar, charlatan, fraud and scoundrel. Aside from this minor difference, the letters are astoundingly similar. Both groups share the same crusading zeal and the same lack of humor, charity and common human decency. These intolerable cults have served to confirm me in my agnosticism by presenting further evidence to support my contention that when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases. ↗

— Robert Anton Wilson

#christianity #humor #humor

We all ought to understand we're on our own. Believing in Santa Claus doesn't do kids any harm for a few years but it isn't smart for them to continue waiting all their lives for him to come down the chimney with something wonderful. Santa Claus and God are cousins. ↗

— Andy Rooney

#atheism #belief #beliefs #god #gods

The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all. ↗

— St. Bede

#agnosticism #brevity #happiness #life #religion

If I were to construct a God I would furnish Him with some way and qualities and characteristics which the Present lacks. ↗

— Mark Twain

#agnosticism #atheism #atheist #freedom #god

Science is agnostic when it comes to God - not atheistic, as some people prefer to read that laden word wrongly - just agnostic. ↗

— Eric Chaisson

#atheism #belief #religion #science #age

If a person is intelligent, then of course he is either an agnostic or an atheist. Just as he is a physical coward. They are automatic definitions of high intelligence. ↗

— John Fowles

#atheist #coward #intelligence #intelligence