Quotable Quotes

Whenever I stumble across quotes that I like, I add them to my ongoing compilation. Every now and then I will bust one out when the appropriate conversation presents itself. The rest of the time, these gems just sit in word documents collecting dust, so to speak. So I thought I would share some of the shorter, more "quotable" ones. Enjoy!


Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. ~Demosthenes


Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty. ~Jacob Bronowski

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide

"Creationism is not a scientific alternative to natural selection any more than the stork theory is an alternative to sexual reproduction." — Hayes, 1996.

"Religion is a magic device for turning unanswerable questions into unquestionable answers." — Art Gecko.

"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." — Delos B. McKown

"It is wrong, always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." — William Kingdon Clifford, The Ethics of Belief (1877).

"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 F Roberts.

"Every prayer reduces itself to this: 'Great God, grant that twice two be not four'." — Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883).

"To think that the ruler of the universe will run to my assistance and bend the laws of nature for me is the height of arrogance." — Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith.

"When I was young I used to pray for a bike. Then I realized that God doesn't work that way, so I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness." — Emo Philips.

"You can cite a hundred references to show that the biblical God is a bloodthirsty tyrant, but if they can dig up two or three verses that say 'God is love', they will claim that *you* are taking things out of context !" — Dan Barker, "Losing Faith in Faith".

"The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." — Mark Twain

"The very concept of sin comes from the bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage ?" — Dan Barker, "Losing Faith in Faith".

"Citing the Bible as evidence for anything is like saying that the sun is in fact a chariot of fire that races across the sky because we read about it in Greek mythology." — Stephen Ban.