Quotes to inspire and reflect

Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery.

A one sentence definition of mythology? "Mythology" is what we call someone else's religion.

Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.

Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

I do not believe in revealed religion - I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without speculating on another.

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.

He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.

The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music.

Happiness is a mystery like religion, and it should never be rationalized.

It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.

Religion is just mind control.

Religion is what keeps the poor man from murdering the rich.

I have ... a terrible need ... shall I say the word? ... of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars.

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion which based on experience, which refuses dogmatic. If there's any religion that would cope the scientific needs it will be Buddhism.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it.

Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion.

Religion consists of a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain.

I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.

All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few.

God has no religion.

No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means.

Eskimo: Then why did you tell me?

If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him.

We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.

Friendship always benefits; love sometimes injures.

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

You can tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel as though you’ve done a permanent job.

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.

A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.

Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives.

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Friends are the sunshine of life.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success.