Quotes about fanatics-and-fanaticism

There is no place in a fanatic's head where reason can enter.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Just as every conviction begins as a whim so does every emancipator serve his apprenticeship as a crank. A fanatic is a great leader who is just entering the room.

— Heywood Broun

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

— Winston Churchill

The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster.

— E. M. Cioran

Fanaticism soberly defined, is the false fire of an over heated mind.

— William Cowper

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.

— Denis Diderot

A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.

— Finley Peter Dunne

Fervor is the weapon of choice of the impotent.

— Frantz Fanon

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

— Edward Gibbon

Defined in psychological terms, a fanatic is a man who consciously over-compensates a secret doubt.

— Aldous Huxley

A fanatic is a man who consciously over compensates a secret doubt.

— Aldous Huxley

Mere human beings can't afford to be fanatical about anything. Not even about justice or loyalty. The fanatic for justice ends by murdering a million helpless people to clear a space for his law-courts. If we are to survive on this planet, there must be compromises.

— Storm Jameson

In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.

— Thomas Jefferson

In the history of mankind, fanaticism has caused more harm than vice.

— Louis Kronenberger

If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic.

— Johann Kaspar Lavater

Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.

— Friedrich Nietzsche

The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.

— Alexander Pope

Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings.

— Salman Rushdie

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.

— George Santayana

Wisdom becomes nonsense in the mouth of a fanatic.

— Otto Schuwdrmer

I carry from my mother's womb a fanatic's heart.

— William Butler Yeats