#si

Horza recalled that the Culture's attitude to somebody who believed in an omnipotent God was to pity them, and to take no more notice of the substance of their faith than one would take of the ramblings of somebody claiming to be Emperor of the Universe. The nature of the belief wasn't totally irrelevant - along with the person's background and upbringing, it might tell you something about what had gone wrong with them - but you didn't take their views seriously. ↗

— Iain Banks

#horza #attitude

Even the sober desire for progress is sustained by faith—faith in the intrinsic goodness of human nature and in the omnipotence of science. It is a defiant and blasphemous faith, not unlike that held by the men who set out to build a "city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" and who believed that "nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. ↗

— Eric Hoffer

#progress #progressivism #the-true-believer #faith

Faith then they vowed Fast, unyielding, There each to each In oaths binding. Bliss there was born When Brynhild woke; Yet fate is strong To find its end. ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#the-legend-of-sigurd #faith

Yet simple souls, their faith it knows no stint: Things least to be believed are most preferred. All counterfeits, as from truth's sacred mint, Are readily believed if once put down in print ↗

— John Clare

#liars #lies #rumors #rumours #truth

In Shakespearean tragedy the main source of the convulsion which produces suffering and death is never good: good contributes to this convulsion only from its tragic implication with its opposite in one and the same character. ↗

— Andrew Coyle Bradley

#contributes #convulsion #death #good #implication

King Lear alone among these plays has a distinct double action. Besides this, it is impossible, I think, from the point of view of construction, to regard the hero as the leading figure. ↗

— Andrew Coyle Bradley

#alone #among #besides #construction #distinct

In the Bible, the opposite of Sin, with a capital 'S,' is not virtue - it's faith: faith in a God who draws all to himself in his resurrection. ↗

— Robert Farrar Capon

#god #jesus #sin #virtue #faith

Because I am not yet living up to what Jesus expects me to be in those red letters in the Bible, I always define myself as somebody who is saved by God's grace and is on his way to becoming a Christian. (...) Being saved is trusting in what Christ did for us, but being Christian is dependent on the way we respond to what he did for us. ↗

— Tony Campolo

#bible #christian #christianity #conversion #discipleship

Repentance grows as faith grows. Do not make any mistake about it; repentance is not a thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be got over as fast as possible! No; it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith itself. God's little children repent, and so do the young men and the fathers. Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith. ↗

— Charles H. Spurgeon

#god #repentance #sin #faith

It is easier for a Russian to become an Atheist, than for any other nationality in the world. And not only does a Russian 'become an Atheist,' but he actually BELIEVES IN Atheism, just as though he had found a new faith, not perceiving that he has pinned his faith to a negation. Such is our anguish of thirst! ↗

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#belief #christianity #faith #russia #faith