Quotes

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. — Samuel Chadwick

There is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t. — Blaise Pascal

There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy. — Blaise Pascal

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. — C. S. Lewis

The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism. In such a case, the value of apologetics is voided, for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him. — Edward John Carnell

Let no one think or maintain that a person can search too far or be too well studied in either the book of God’s word or the book of God’s works. — Francis Bacon

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome. — Samuel Johnson

If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself. — St. Augustine of Hippo

Reason’s final step is to realize that there are an infinite number of things which lie beyond it. It is simply feeble if it does not get as far as realizing that. — Blaise Pascal

There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking. — Alfred Korzybski

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions, each of which absolves us of our responsibility for thinking. — Henri Poincare

There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable; those who serve God with all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with all their heart because they do not know Him. — Blaise Pascal, SECTION III: OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER

Most atheists don’t give a rat’s ass about religion as it’s practiced by a handful of theologians. We care about religion as it’s widely practiced in the real world. And that includes many versions of religion that are outdated, simplistic, stupid and ugly … and richly deserving of criticism. — Greta Christina

God save us from the smallness we practice in the name of religion. — Sr. Joan Chittister

If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the imaginations of men…. What right have you, sir, Mr. clergyman, you, minister of the gospel to stand at the portals of the tomb, at the vestibule of eternity, and fill the future with horror and with fear? I do not believe this doctrine, neither do you. If you did, you could not sleep one moment. Any man who believes it, and has within his breast a decent, throbbing heart, will go insane. A man who believes that doctrine and does not go insane has the heart of a snake and the conscience of a hyena. — Robert Green Ingersoll, The Liberty Of All (1877)

Thought that is silenced is always rebellious. Majorities, of course, are often mistaken. This is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous. Criticism and dissent are the indispensable antidote to major delusions. — Alan Barth

Man should think; he should use all his senses; he should examine; he should reason. The man who cannot think is less than man; the man who will not think is traitor to himself; the man who fears to think is superstition’s slave. — Robert Green Ingersoll, Superstition (1898)

For me, it is far better to perceive the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying or reassuring. — Carl Sagan

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. — Arthur C. Clarke

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. — Wilson Mizner

All superstition is much the same whether it be that of astrology, dreams, omen, retributive judgment, or the like, in all of which the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more common. — Francis Bacon, Novum Organum

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. — Robert K. Merton, Social Theory

Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed. — Thomas Henry Huxley

Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrines of the weak. — Robert G. Ingersoll

It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people. — Giordano Bruno

The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. — Sir William Osler

A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. — José Bergamín, The Rocket and the Star, 1923

I contend 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

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. — George Bernard Shaw

If ours is an examined faith, we should be unafraid to doubt….There is no believing without some doubting, and believing is all the stronger for understanding and resolving doubt. — Os Guinness

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. — Bertrand Russell

The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in any other religion. It’s outstandingly different in quality and quantity. — Antony Flew

Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it. — André Gide

The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of universes or design that requires only one. — Ed Harrison

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

Patience with others is Love; Patience with self is Hope; Patience with God is Faith — Adel Bestavros

Christianity centers on relationships. Facts simply serve as the foundation on which the relationship is built. — David A. Ball, The Crucifixion and Death of a Man Called Jesus pg v

For it is indubitable that this life is but an instant of time, that the state of death is eternal, whatever its nature may be, and thus that all our actions and thoughts must follow such different paths according to the state of this eternity, that the only possible way of acting with sense and judgement is to decide our course in the light of this point, which ought to be our ultimate objective. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées (427)

Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it is true. To remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we must make it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we must prove it is true. Venerable, because it has perfect knowledge of man; lovable because it promises the true good. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées (187)

What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence, nor the manifest presence of divinity, but the presence of a hidden God. Everything bears this stamp. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées (449) / 142

We know truth not only through our reason but also through our heart. It is through the latter that we know first principles, and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to refute them. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées (110) / 28

I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true. — Blaise Pascal, Pensées (386 /241)

Truth is so obscured nowadays and lies [are] so well established that unless we love the truth we shall never recognize it. — Blaise Pascal

Prophecies. If a single man had written a book foretelling the time and manner of Jesus’ coming and Jesus had come in conformity with these prophecies, this would carry infinite weight. But there is much more here. There is a succession of men over a period of 4,000 years, coming consistently and invariably one after the other, to foretell the same coming; there is an entire people proclaiming it, existing for 4,000 years to testify in a body to the certainty they feel about it, from which they cannot be deflected by whatever threats and persecutions they may suffer. This is of a quite different order of importance. — Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 332

We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart. — Blaise Pascal

The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it. How do you know your belief is true? It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens. In fairness you must doubt your doubts. My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs – you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared. — Tim Keller, The Reason for God, pg. xix