WIST Quotations

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- “Thomas Paine” (1870)

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 20:17:25 +0000

Nothing so outrages the feelings of the church as a moral unbeliever — nothing so horrible as a charitable Atheist.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
“Thomas Paine” (1870)
(Source)

Menen, Aubrey -- The Duke of Gallodoro (1952)

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:07:32 +0000

That is the whole trouble with being a heretic. One must usually think out everything for oneself.

Aubrey Menen (1912-1989) British writer, novelist, satirist, theatre critic
The Duke of Gallodoro (1952)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- Following the Equator, ch. 53 (1897)

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:55:29 +0000

If the man doesn’t believe as we do, we say he is a crank, and that settles it. I mean it does nowadays, because now we can’t burn him.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 53 (1897)

Lowell, James Russell -- Among My Books (1870)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:24:16 +0000

Toward no crime have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
Among My Books (1870)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1946-01), “The Prevention of Literature,” Polemic Magazine

Dave — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:56:17 +0000

The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent. Each of them tacitly claims that “the truth” has already been revealed, and that the heretic, if he is not simply a fool, is secretly aware of “the truth” and merely resists it out of selfish motives.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-01), “The Prevention of Literature,” Polemic Magazine
(Source)