Faith, Spirituality and Religion

A degree of culture, and assuredly a very high one, is attained when man rises above superstitions and religious notions and fears, and, for instance, no longer believes in guardian angels or in original sin, and has also ceased to talk of the salvation of his soul.

It may be that until now there has been no more potent means for beautifying man himself than piety: it can turn man into so much art, surface, play of colors, graciousness that his sight no longer makes one suffer.---

As is well known, the priests are the most evil enemies—but why? Because they are the most impotent. It is because of their impotence that in them hatred grows to monstrous and uncanny proportions, to the most spiritual and poisonous kind of hatred. The truly great haters in world history have always been priests; likewise the most ingenious haters: other kinds of spirit hardly come into consideration when compared with the spirit of priestly vengefulness.

The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature--: and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.

There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.

In truth,there was only one christian and he died on the cross.

Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?

The desire for a strong faith is not the proof of a strong faith, rather the opposite. If one has it one may permit oneself the beautiful luxury of skepticism: one is secure enough, fixed enough for it.

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

Whoever extolleth him as a God of love, doth not think highly enough of love itself. Did not that God want also to be judge? But the loving one loveth irrespective of reward and requital.

Ah, ye brethren, that God whom I created was human work and human madness, like all the Gods!

The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.

Weariness that wants to reach the ultimate with one leap, with one fatal leap, a poor ignorant weariness that does not want to want any more: this created all gods and afterworlds.

As soon as a religion comes to dominate it has as its opponents all those who would have been its first disciples.

You pray in your distress and in your need; you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

As for me, I know of nothing else but miracles.

Believe and your belief will create the fact.

There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.

No man can be called friendless when he has God and the companionship of good books.

The universe is merely a fleeting idea in God’s mind—a pretty uncomfortable thought, particularly if you’ve just made a down payment on a house.

I don’t see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood.

Our Creator would never have made such lovely days and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them unless we were meant to be immortal.

Love beauty; it is the shadow of God on the universe.