WIST Quotations

Randi, James -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:40:09 +0000

The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying.

James Randi (1928-2020) Canadian-American stage magician ("The Amazing Randi") and scientific skeptic. [b. Randall James Hamilton Zwinge]
(Attributed)

Very widely quoted and attributed to Randi. I cannot, however, find any evidence showing Randi actually said this, though it is plausible.

Gervais, Ricky -- Twitter (11 Sep 2012)

Dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 01:22:42 +0000

Your God is the best God.
In fact, he’s the only God.
All other Gods are ridiculous, made up rubbish.
Not yours though. Yours is real.

Ricky Gervais (b. 1961) English comedian, actor, director, writer
Twitter (11 Sep 2012)
(Source)

Cadbury, Henry -- “My Personal Religion,” lecture, Harvard School of Divinity (1936)

Dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 13:52:37 +0000

I am often inclined to be envious of other people’s religion. They are so cocksure dogmatically that they act as though they are omniscient. Life has no doubts, its direction is determined, all evil is by hypothesis overruled by an all-wise God for good. I do not share this view of life, any more than I share the Christian Science views of disease, but I can see that it makes people enthusiastic, effective, self-forgetful and often fanatical and great bores.

Henry Joel Cadbury (1883-1974) American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, activist
“My Personal Religion,” lecture, Harvard School of Divinity (1936)
(Source)