#nos

I believe there's a God but I'm not too sure of his relevance. ↗

— Trent Reznor

#religion #religion

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved? ↗

— Carl Sagan

#humility #science #skepticism #truth #science

Thus, as far as he is a scientific man, as far as he knows anything, he is a materialist; outside his science, in spheres about which he knows nothing, he translates his ignorance into Greek and calls it agnosticism. ↗

— Friedrich Engels

#engels #marx #marxism #science #science

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argues that human beings cannot be truly good or moral without faith in God and without submis- sion to the will of Christ. Unfortunately, Lewis does not provide any actual data for his assertions. They are nothing more than the mild musings of a wealthy British man, pondering the state of humanity’s soul between his sips of tea. Had Lewis actually famil- iarized himself with real human beings of the secular sort, per- haps sat and talked with them, he would have had to reconsider this notion. As so many apostates explained to me, morality is most certainly possible beyond the confines of faith. Can people be good without God? Can a moral orientation be sustained and developed outside of a religious context? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding yes. ↗

— Phil Zuckerman

#atheism #ethics #morality #morals #religion

I'm afraid not." Hades sighed. "My son here convinced me that perhaps I should prioritize my list of enemies." He glared at me with distaste. "As much as I dislike certain upstart demigods, it would not do for Olympus to fall. I would miss bickering with my siblings. And if there is one thing we agree on - it is that you were a TERRIBLE father. ↗

— Rick Riordan

#kronos #nico-diangelo #olympus #siblings #terrible-father

Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!" That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backwards and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt. ↗

— Rick Riordan

#hyperborean-giant #kronos #lord-of-time #running

The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies. ↗

— Mark Twain

#atheism #bible #christianity #mythology #truth

She could sense it very clearly: for me, no less than for her, the past counted far more than the present, remembering something far more than possessing it. Compared to memory, every possession can only ever seem disappointing, banal, inadequate ... She understood me so well! My anxiety that the present 'immediately' turned into the past so that I could love it and dream about it at leisure was just like hers, was identical. It was 'our' vice, this: to go forwards with our heads forever turned back. ↗

— Giorgio Bassani

#nostalgia #dreams

The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. ↗

— Milan Kundera

#nostalgia #vocabulary #suffering

Atheism and agnosticism signify the rejection of certain images and concepts of God or of truth, which are historically conditioned and therefore inadequate. Atheism is a challenge to religion to purifiy its images and concepts and come nearer to the truth of divine mystery. ↗

— Bede Griffiths

#atheism #idols #religion #religion