quotes I picked up

"I may not have gone where I intended to, but I think I ended up where I needed to be."

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:06:59 +0200

“I may not have gone where I intended to, but I think I ended up where I needed to be.”

- Douglas Adams

"A crucial part of seeing America was also seeing how many Americas there were."

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:06:53 +0200

“A crucial part of seeing America was also seeing how many Americas there were.”

- Christopher Hitchens - Hitch-22

"To abstain from the enjoyment which is in our power, or to seek distant rather than immediate..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:10:15 +0100

“To abstain from the enjoyment which is in our power, or to seek distant rather than immediate results, are among the most painful exertions of the human will.”

- N. W. Senior, 1836

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:53:48 +0100

“There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

- Douglas Adams

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:52:36 +0100

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

- Douglas Adams

"Open your mouth if your voice can never be sold."

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:56:28 +0100

“Open your mouth if your voice can never be sold.”

- Chuck Ragan - Hearts of Stone

"It happened, therefore it can happen again. This is the core of what we have to say."

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:30:06 +0100

“It happened, therefore it can happen again.
This is the core of what we have to say.”

- Primo Levi; Holocaust Survivor

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be..."

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:45:06 +0100

“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered.
Religion is answers that may never be questioned.”

- Anonymous; quoted by Daniel Dennett in “Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon”

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:15:06 +0100

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

- Stephen Roberts

"If someone were to prove to me - right this minute - that God, in all his luminousness, exists, it..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:30:05 +0100

“If someone were to prove to me - right this minute - that God, in all his luminousness, exists, it wouldn’t change a single aspect of my behavior.”

- Luis Buñuel

"The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:45:05 +0100

“The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it;”

- How to Tell a Story and Other Essays (Mark Twain)

"There is an old Belfast joke about the man stopped at a roadblock and asked his religion. When he..."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:15:05 +0100

“There is an old Belfast joke about the man stopped at a roadblock and asked his religion. When he replies that he is an atheist he is asked, “Protestant or Catholic atheist?””

- God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)

"The action of a man who volunteers to die for his fellow creatures is universally regarded as noble...."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:30:05 +0100

“The action of a man who volunteers to die for his fellow creatures is universally regarded as noble. The extra claim not to have “really” died makes the whole sacrifice tricky and meretricious. (Thus, those who say “Christ died for my sins,” when he did not really “die” at all, are making a statement that is false in its own terms.)”

- God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:45:06 +0100

“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”

- God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)

"El sueño de la razón produce monstruos. ‘The sleep of reason,’ it has been well said,..."

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:15:05 +0100

“El sueño de la razón produce monstruos.
‘The sleep of reason,’ it has been well said, ‘brings forth monsters.’”

- God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens)

"Skepticism is dangerous. That’s exactly its function, in my view. It is the business of..."

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:30:06 +0100

“Skepticism is dangerous. That’s exactly its function, in my view. It is the business of skepticism to be dangerous.”

- Carl Sagan - The Burden of Skepticism

"It is safe to say that almost every person living in New Orleans at the moment Hurricane Katrina..."

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:45:05 +0100

“It is safe to say that almost every person living in New Orleans at the moment Hurricane Katrina struck shared your belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, and compassionate God. But what was God doing while Katrina laid waste to their city? Surely He heard the prayers of those elderly men and women who fled the rising waters for the safety of their attics, only to be slowly drowned there. These were people of faith. These were good men and women who had prayed throughout their lives. Do you have the courage to admit the obvious? These poor people died talking to an imaginery friend.”

- Letter to a Christian Nation (Sam Harris)

"it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything"

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:40:05 +0100

“it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything”

- Joseph Heller and Christopher Buckley - Catch-22

"He knew everything about literature except how to enjoy it."

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:30:05 +0100

“He knew everything about literature except how to enjoy it.”

- Joseph Heller and Christopher Buckley - Catch-22

"What makes you so sure Major Major is a Communist?” “You never heard him denying it..."

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:45:05 +0100

““What makes you so sure Major Major is a Communist?”
“You never heard him denying it until we began accusing him, did you?””

- Joseph Heller and Christopher Buckley - Catch-22