Quotes about religion

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Marx, Karl on religion   

"Nobody can deny but religion is a comfort to the distressed, a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a restraint on the wicked; therefore whoever would argue or laugh it out of the world without giving some equivalent for it ought to be treated as a common enemy."

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley on religion   

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"Oh senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm, and yet will make Gods by dozens."

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on religion
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"When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation."

Nerval, Gerard De on religion   

"From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery."

Newman, Cardinal J. on religion   

"A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architectural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to religion as well as to art. Ignorance of the past does not guarantee freedom from its imperfections."

Niebuhr, Reinhold on religion   

"After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on religion
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"There's no reason to bring religion into it. I think we ought to have as great a regard for religion as we can, so as to keep it out of as many things as possible."

O'Casey, Sean on religion   

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

Paine, Thomas on religion   

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"Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad."

Paine, Thomas on religion
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"Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true."

Pascal, Blaise on religion
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"Religion, oh, just another of those numerous failures resulting from an attempt to popularize art."

Pound, Ezra on religion   

"A maker of idols is never an idolater."

Proverb, Chinese on religion   

"It is certain that if you would have the whole secret of a people, you must enter into the intimacy of their religion."

Quinet, Edgar on religion   

"It is not God that is worshipped but the group or authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority not violation of integrity."

Radhakrishnan, Sir Sarvepalli on religion   

"The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas -- uncertainty, progress, change -- into crimes."

Rushdie, Salman on religion   

"Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history power has been the vice of the ascetic."

Russell, Bertrand on religion   

"Religions are the cradles of despotism."

Sade, Marquis De on religion   

"There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it."

Shaw, George Bernard on religion   

"My religion? Well, my dear, I am a Millionaire. That is my religion."

Shaw, George Bernard on religion   

"All the sweetness of religion is conveyed to the world by the hands of story-tellers and image-makers. Without their fictions the truths of religion would for the multitude be neither intelligible nor even apprehensible; and the prophets would prophesy and the teachers teach in vain."

Shaw, George Bernard on religion   

"I think that the leaf of a tree, the meanest insect on which we trample, are in themselves arguments more conclusive than any which can be adduced that some vast intellect animates Infinity."

Shelley, Percy Bysshe on religion   

"Religion is probably, after sex, the second oldest resource which human beings have available to them for blowing their minds."

Sontag, Susan on religion   

"Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life."

Tillich, Paul on religion   

"The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality."

Tocqueville, Alexis De on religion   

"I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- except he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force."

Twain, Mark on religion   

"It is a good and gentle religion, but inconvenient."

Twain, Mark on religion   

"A good test of a man's religion is its vitality."

Unknown, Source on religion   

"Religion is like holding on to a rock in the middle of a raging river; faith is learning how to swim."

Unknown, Source on religion   

"Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life."

Updike, John on religion
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"Religion is love; in no case is it logic."

Webb, Beatrice Potter on religion   

"Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions."

Wilde, Oscar on religion   

"Not every religion has to have St. Augustine's attitude to sex. Why even in our culture marriages are celebrated in a church, everyone present knows what is going to happen that night, but that doesn't prevent it being a religious ceremony."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on religion   

"For a truly religious man nothing is tragic."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on religion   

"Don't try to tear down other people's religion about their ears, Build up your own perfect structure of truth, and invite your listeners to enter in and enjoy it's glories."

Young, Brigham on religion   

"Hell is not punishment, neither is heaven reward, it is consequence"

Onwuka Emeka on religion   

"If all that seperates me from my destiny is time, as i get older i get closer"

Onwuka Emeka on religion   

"Humanity is the crime, God is the criminal."

Joshi, Kedar on religion   

"Politics is chiefly a function of culture, at the heart of culture is morality, and at the heart of morality is religion."

neuhaus, richard john on religion   

"God tells every religion that it is His favorite. "

Lipsey, Michael on religion