WIST Quotations

Twain, Mark -- Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 10 “Beginnings of Civilization”

Dave — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:47:37 +0000

I could have given my own sect the preference and made everybody a Presbyterian without any trouble, but that would have been to affront a law of human nature: spiritual wants and instincts are as various in the human family as are physical appetites, complexions, and features, and a man is only at his best, morally, when he is equipped with the religious garment whose color and shape and size most nicely accommodate themselves to the spiritual complexion, angularities, and stature of the individual who wears it.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 10 “Beginnings of Civilization”
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 14, Lords and Ladies (1992)

Dave — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:04:22 +0000

“I don’t hold with paddlin’ with the occult,” said Granny firmly. “Once you start paddlin’ with the occult you start believing in spirits, and when you start believing in spirits you start believing in demons, and then before you know where you are you’re believing in gods. And then you’re in trouble.”
“But all them things exist,” said Nanny Ogg.
“That’s no call to go around believing in them. It only encourages ’em.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 14, Lords and Ladies (1992)
(Source)

Manning, Brennan -- The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 7 “Paste Jewelry and Sawdust Hot Dogs” (1990)

Dave — Mon, 11 May 2026 23:57:11 +0000

At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently all we can do is pretend to believe we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo repentance and pseudo bliss.

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 7 “Paste Jewelry and Sawdust Hot Dogs” (1990)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1940-05-17), “My Day”

Dave — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 16:19:28 +0000

I have a great belief in spiritual force, but I think we have to realize that spiritual force alone has to have material force with it so long as we live in a material world. The two together make a strong combination.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Column (1940-05-17), “My Day”
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London

Dave — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:46:44 +0000

It is well said, in every sense, that a man’s religion is the chief fact with regard to him. A man’s, or a nation of men’s. By religion I do not mean here the church-creed which he professes, the articles of faith which he will sign and, in words or otherwise, assert; not this wholly, in many cases not this at all. We see men of all kinds of professed creeds attain to almost all degrees of worth or worthlessness under each or any of them. This is not what I call religion, this profession and assertion; which is often only a profession and assertion from the outworks of the man, from the mere argumentative region of him, if even so deep as that.
But the thing a man does practically believe (and this is often enough without asserting it even to himself, much less to others); the thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain, concerning his vital relations to this mysterious Universe, and his duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing for him, and creatively determines all the rest. That is his religion; or, it may be, his mere scepticism and no-religion: the manner it is in which he feels himself to be spiritually related to the Unseen World or No-World; and I say, if you tell me what that is, you tell me to a very great extent what the man is, what the kind of things he will do is.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)

The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 1, (1841).

Moliere -- Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 3, sc. 1 (1665) [tr. Wilbur (2001)]

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 23:05:57 +0000

SGANARELLE: But one has to believe in something; what is it that you believe? […]

DON JUAN: I believe that two and two are four, Sganarelle, and that four and four are eight.

[SGANARELLE: Mais encore faut-il croire en quelque chose dans le monde : qu’est-ce donc que vous croyez? […]

DON JUAN: Je crois que deux et deux sont quatre, Sganarelle, et que quatre et quatre sont huit.]

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 3, sc. 1 (1665) [tr. Wilbur (2001)]
(Source)

This passage, where belief in folk spirits and bogeymen (or, alternately, math) is conflated with religious belief, was dropped from later performances, and is sometimes not included in text versions of the play (e.g., Clitandre (1672)).

(Source (French)). Other translations:

SGAN: People must believe something in this world. What do you believe? [...]
D JU: I believe that two and two are four, Sganarelle, and that twice four are eight.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

SGAN: One must believe in something here below. What do you believe in? [...]
JU: Well, I believe that two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that four and four make eight.
[tr. Wall (1879)]

SGAN: Now just tell me (for one must believe something) in what do you believe? [...]
D. JUAN: I believe two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that four and four are eight.
[tr. Waller (1904)]

SGANARELLE: But at least a man must believe in something here below. Now what do you believe in? [...]
DON JUAN: I believe that two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that twice four is eight.
[tr. Page (1908)]

SGANARELLE: A person must have faith in something. What do you believe? [...]
DON JUAN: I believe, Sganarelle, that two and two are four and four and four are eight.
[tr. Bermel (1987)]

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- An Altar in the World, Introduction (2009)

Dave — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 19:09:03 +0000

To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger — these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life,

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
An Altar in the World, Introduction (2009)
(Source)

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- An Altar in the World, Introduction (2009)

Dave — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:06:33 +0000

What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
An Altar in the World, Introduction (2009)
(Source)

Child, Lydia Maria -- The Progress of Religious Ideas Through Successive Ages, Vol. 3, “Concluding Chapter” (1855)

Dave — Tue, 02 May 2023 15:19:17 +0000

Religion does not consist in doctrines of any kind, but in sentiments of reverence toward God, and of justice and benevolence toward our fellow men.

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
The Progress of Religious Ideas Through Successive Ages, Vol. 3, “Concluding Chapter” (1855)
(Source)

Tarkovsky, Andrei -- Sculpting in Time (1986) [tr. Hunter-Blair]

Dave — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 17:51:36 +0000

Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken the wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for his own sake.

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) Russian film director, screenwriter, film theorist [Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский]
Sculpting in Time (1986) [tr. Hunter-Blair]
(Source)

Heschel, Abraham -- “What Ecumenism Is” (1963)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 16:47:20 +0000

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers in himself harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“What Ecumenism Is” (1963)
(Source)

Collected in Susanna Heschel, ed., Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (1996). In other essays in the book, he uses the first clause ("a person who holds God and man in one thought, at one time, at all times") as a definition of a "prophet."

Dyer, Wayne -- You’ll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation, ch. 2, epigraph (1989)

Dave — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 19:34:42 +0000

You are not a human being having a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being having a human experience.

Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American self-help author, motivational speaker
You’ll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation, ch. 2, epigraph (1989)
(Source)

A variant of the phrase is also included in the Introduction to the book: "That you are not a human being having a spiritual experience, but rather a spiritual being having a human experience."

Dyer originally used a variation of this ("Can you see yourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than human beings who may be having a spiritual experience?") the previous year in "A Letter to the Next Generation," an advertisement by Volkswagen.

Also attributed, without citation to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (incorrectly) and Georges I. Gurdjieff.

More discussion: You Are Not a Human Being Having a Spiritual Experience. You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience – Quote Investigator.

Bell, Daniel -- “Religion in the Sixties,” Social Research (Fall 1971)

Dave — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 13:47:16 +0000

When theology erodes and organization crumbles, when the institutional framework of religion begins to break up, the search for a direct experience which people can feel to be religious facilitates the rise of cults.

Daniel Bell (1919–2011) American sociologist, writer, editor, academic
“Religion in the Sixties,” Social Research (Fall 1971)
(Source)

Muir, John -- The Yosemite, ch. 15 “Hetch Hetchy Valley” (1912)

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:04:29 +0000

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike. This natural beauty-hunger is made manifest in the little window-sill gardens of the poor, though perhaps only a geranium slip in a broken cup, as well as in the carefully tended rose and lily gardens of the rich, the thousands of spacious city parks and botanical gardens, and in our magnificent National parks.

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-American naturalist
The Yosemite, ch. 15 “Hetch Hetchy Valley” (1912)
(Source)

Armstrong, Karen -- The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (2004)

Dave — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 19:53:21 +0000

The one and only test of a valid religious idea, doctrinal statement, spiritual experience, or devotional practice was that it must lead directly to practical compassion. If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express this sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, or self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God’s name, it was bad theology. Compassion was the litmus test for the prophets of Israel, for the rabbis of the Talmud, for Jesus, for Paul, and for Muhammad, not to mention Confucius, Lao-tsu, the Buddha, or the sages of the Upanishads.

Karen Armstrong (b. 1944) British author, comparative religion scholar
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (2004)
(Source)

Nansen, Fridtjof -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 15:12:56 +0000

It is better to go skiing and think of God, than to go to church and think of sport.

Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian
(Attributed)

Inge, William Ralph -- More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, Part 4, ch. 1 (1931)

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 16:50:53 +0000

Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man.

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, Part 4, ch. 1 (1931)

Dalai Lama, The -- “The Dalai Lama in Depth,” Interview with Catherine Ingram, Yoga Journal (Jan/Feb 1990)

Dave — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:34:30 +0000

The essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others.

The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; a/k/a Lhama Thondup / Lhama Dhondrub; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
“The Dalai Lama in Depth,” Interview with Catherine Ingram, Yoga Journal (Jan/Feb 1990)
(Source)

Lewis, C.S. -- Mere Christianity, ch. 10 “Nice People or New Men” (1952)

Dave — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:33:25 +0000

If conversion to Christianity makes no improvements in a man’s outward actions — if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before — then I think we must suspect that his “conversion” was largely imaginary; and after one’s original conversion, every time one thinks one has made an advance, that is the test to apply. Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in “religion” mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Mere Christianity, ch. 10 “Nice People or New Men” (1952)
(Source)

Cash, Johnny -- “So Heavenly Minded, You’re No Earthly Good”

Dave — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 17:58:39 +0000

Come heed me, my brothers, come heed, one and all
Don’t brag about standing or you’ll surely fall
You’re shining your light and shine it you should
But you’re so heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good

If you’re holding heaven, then spread it around
There’s hungry hands reaching up here from the ground
Move over and share the high ground where you stood
So heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good

John R. "Johnny" Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, author
“So Heavenly Minded, You’re No Earthly Good”
(Source)

Adams, Douglas -- Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 1, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 16 (1979)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:50:41 +0000

Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 1, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 16 (1979)
(Source)

Musing by Ford Prefect as to Zaphod's overdramatization of their arrival at Magrathea. Not present in the BBC Radio production, where Magrathea is reached during Fit the 3rd.

King, Martin Luther -- Stride Toward Freedom, ch. 2 “Montgomery Before the Protest” (1958)

Dave — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 19:24:55 +0000

Certainly, otherworldly concerns have a deep and significant place in all religions worthy of the name. Any religion that is completely earthbound sells its birthright for a mess of naturalistic pottage. Religion at its best, deals not only with man’s preliminary concerns but with his inescapable ultimate concern. When religion overlooks this basic fact it is reduced to a mere ethical system in which eternity is absorbed into time and God is relegated to a sort of meaningless figment of the human imagination.

But a religion true to its nature must also be concerned about man’s social conditions. Religion deals with both earth and heaven, both time and eternity. Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. It seeks not only to integrate men with God but to integrate men with men and each man with himself.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Stride Toward Freedom, ch. 2 “Montgomery Before the Protest” (1958)
(Source)

Lewis, C.S. -- The Screwtape Letters (1942)

Dave — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 03:24:38 +0000

It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very ‘spiritual’, that he is always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism. Two advantages will follow. In the first place, his attention will be kept on what he regards as her sins, by which, with a little guidance from you, he can be induced to mean any of her actions which are inconvenient or irritating to himself. Thus you can keep rubbing the wounds of the day a little sorer even while he is on his knees; the operation is not at all difficult and you will find it very entertaining. In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree, be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother — the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table. In time, you may get the cleavage so wide that no thought or feeling from his prayers for the imagined mother will ever flow over into his treatment of the real one. I have had patients of my own so well in hand that they could be turned at a moment’s notice from impassioned prayer for a wife’s or son’s ‘soul’ to beating or insulting the real wife or son without a qualm.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Screwtape Letters (1942)

Carriger, Gail -- Heartless (2011)

Dave — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:34:30 +0000

Lady Maccon cast her hands heavenward, although there was no one up there for her to appeal to. It was an accepted fact that preternaturals had no spiritual recourse, only pragmatism. Alexia didn’t mind; the latter had often gotten her out of sticky situations, whereas the former seemed highly unreliable when one was in a bind.

Gail Carriger (b. 1976) American archaeologist, author [pen name of Tofa Borregaard]
Heartless (2011)

Gervais, Ricky -- “Why I’m an Atheist,” Wall Street Journal (19 Dec 2010)

Dave — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 00:24:31 +0000

“Do unto others …” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is -‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.

Ricky Gervais (b. 1961) English comedian, actor, director, writer
“Why I’m an Atheist,” Wall Street Journal (19 Dec 2010)
(Source)

Nouwen, Henri -- The Living Reminder: Service and Prayer in Memory of Jesus Christ (1977)

Dave — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:42:57 +0000

When we walk in the Lord’s presence, everything we see, hear, touch, or taste reminds us of Him. This is what is meant by a prayerful life. It is not a life in which we say many prayers but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understood independently of Him who is the origin and purpose of our existence.

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) Dutch Catholic priest and writer
The Living Reminder: Service and Prayer in Memory of Jesus Christ (1977)

Nouwen, Henri -- The Wounded Healer (1972)

Dave — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:05:47 +0000

Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence.

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) Dutch Catholic priest and writer
The Wounded Healer (1972)

De Stael, Germaine -- Corinne, Book 10, ch. 5 (1807)

Dave — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 14:04:52 +0000

A religious life is a struggle and not a hymn.

Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) Swiss-French writer, woman of letters, critic, salonist [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Madame de Staël, Madame Necker]
Corinne, Book 10, ch. 5 (1807)

Schopenhauer, Arthur -- Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 15 “On Religion [Ueber Religion],” § 174 “A Dialogue [Ein Dialog]” (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]

Dave — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 13:33:45 +0000

You are certainly right in insisting on the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religion appears to me to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate we have seen that in regard to the furtherance of morality, its utility is, for the most part, problematical, its disadvantages, and especially the atrocities which have followed in its train, are patent to the light of day.

[So hast du gewiß Recht, das starke metaphysische Bedürfniß des Menschen zu urgiren: aber die Religionen scheinen mir nicht sowohl die Befriedigung, als der Mißbrauch desselben zu seyn. Wenigstens haben wir gesehn, daß in Hinsicht auf Beförderung der Moralität ihr Nutzen großentheils problematisch ist, ihre Nachtheile hingegen und zumal die Gräuelthaten, welche in ihrem Gefolge sich eingestellt haben, am Tage liegen.]

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 15 “On Religion [Ueber Religion],” § 174 “A Dialogue [Ein Dialog]” (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Another translation:

You are certainly right in advocating the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religions appear to me to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate we have seen that, in view of the progress of morality, its advantages are for the most part problematical, while its disadvantages, and especially the enormities which have appeared in its train, are obvious.
[tr. Dircks]

You are certainly right in insisting on man's strong metaphysical need. Religions, however, seem to me to be not so much a satisfaction but an abuse thereof. at any rate, we have seen that, as regards the encouragement of morality, their use is to a great extent problematical, whereas their disadvantages, and especially the atrocities that have followed in their train, are as clear as the light of day.
[tr. Payne (1974)]

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, ch. 18 (1962)

Dave — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:36:57 +0000

Emotion is inseparable from being filled with the spirit, which is above all a state of being moved.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 18 (1962)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], 1805 entry (1938 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)]

Dave — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:51:52 +0000

It seems that there is something spiritual in wine.

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1805 entry (1938 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)

This entry does not show up in traditional collections of the Pensées (English or French), but from the full 2-volume Les Carnets, ed. Andre Beaunier.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “The Preacher,” lecture, Cambridge (1879-05-05)

Dave — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:06:48 +0000

Once we had wooden chalices and golden priests, now we have golden chalices and wooden priests.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Preacher,” lecture, Cambridge (1879-05-05)
(Source)

Ivins, Molly -- Essay (2000-10), “Cancer, II,” The Progressive magazine

Dave — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:57:13 +0000

I just finished with nine months of treatment for cancer. First they poison you, then they mutilate you, then they burn you. I’ve had more fun. And when it’s over, you’re so glad that you’re grateful to absolutely everyone. And I am. The trouble is, I’m not a better person. I was in great hopes that confronting my own mortality would make me deeper, more thoughtful. Many lovely people sent books on how to find a more spiritual meaning in life. My response was, “Oh, hell, I can’t go on a spiritual journey — I’m constipated.”

Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2000-10), “Cancer, II,” The Progressive magazine

Collected in her Who Let the Dogs In? (2004) as part of the essay "Class Warfare, Anyone?" An expanded version of the essay can be found Myers & Ferlin (eds.), My Body of Knowledge (2006), where it is credited to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (2000). This appears to be the same essay as "Thank You," posted at the Texas Observer site (2000-09-08).

In a similar vein, Ivins wrote in "Who Needs Breasts, Anyway?", Time (2002-02-18):

Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that.

Heywood, John -- Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 9 (1546)

Dave — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:13:47 +0000

The neer to the church, the further from God.

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)

Einstein, Albert -- “Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine (9 Nov 1930)

Dave — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:47:01 +0000

How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
“Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine (9 Nov 1930)
(Source)

Ericsson, Graham -- Journal (2008-07-27)

Dave — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:29:37 +0000

Where religion speaks of the heart and soul, and of what happens before we’re born and after we die, and why, then agreeing or disagreeing with it is a matter of personal taste, spirit, and judgment. Where it speaks of the objective, of the real world, of what evidence of our eyes should be accepted or rejected, it is worth no more than anyone else spouting off at a cocktail party.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1961) American technologist, writer, aphorist
Journal (2008-07-27)

Ericsson, Graham -- Journal (2008-06-24)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:09:27 +0000

I am less concerned about my relationship with God in the afterlife than I am in my relationship with him in this one.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1961) American technologist, writer, aphorist
Journal (2008-06-24)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1743 ed.)

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:42:01 +0000

Men differ daily, about things which are subject to Sense, is it likely then they should agree about things invisible.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1743 ed.)
(Source)

Coffin, William Sloane -- Credo, “Faith, Hope, and Love” (2004)

Dave — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:36:43 +0000

We must guard against being too individualistic and elitist in our understanding of spirituality. Some Christians talk endlessly about the importance of one’s interior life and how to develop it more fully, forgetting that Christ is born to bring hope and joy also to whole communities of people — the exiles, the deported, the tortured, the silenced.

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924–2006) American minister, social activist
Credo, “Faith, Hope, and Love” (2004)
(Source)

Levin, Bernard -- Essay (1978-05-03), The Times, London

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it, however much contentment they place between it and their own consciousness, it aches.

Bernard Levin (1928–2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1978-05-03), The Times, London
(Source)

Remarking on a crowd of 90,000 at the "Festival of Mind and Body," in London. Collected in Taking Sides (1979).

See Thoreau.