Memorable Atheism Quotes

[Nephtys]

From Here

Top 50 Atheism Quotes

George Carlin

1. Religion easily has the best bullshit story of all time. Think about it. Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.

2. Atheism: A non-prophet organization.

3. I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.


Friedrich Nietzsche


4. Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s?

5. Faith means not wanting to know what is true.

6. Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.


Albert Einstein

7. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of “humility.” This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.

8. It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. … Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
Albert Einstein, “Religion and Science”, New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930

9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.


Gandhi Quotes

10. The most henious and the must cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.
Mohandas K Gandhi, Young India, July 7, 1950, quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., “The Degeneration of Belief”

11. I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.


Mark Twain Quotes

12. “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
Mark Twain

13. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
Mark Twain

14. What God lacks is convictions — stability of character. He ought to be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something — not try to be everything.

15. Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
Mark Twain, quoted from Curmudgeon-Online

16. “In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.


Thomas Jefferson

17. Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

18. We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.


Benjamin Franklin

19. The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle.
Benjamin Franklin, the incompatibility of faith and reason, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)

20. Lighthouses are more helpful then churches.


Voltaire

21. If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.
Voltaire

22. Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities.


Stephen Hawking

23. Black holes would seem to suggest that God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.
Stephen Hawking, NATURE, 1975

24. We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There’s not much personal about the laws of physics.


Jiddu Krishnamurti

25. Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

26. The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.
Jiddu Krishnamurti


Christopher Hitchens

27. What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.
Christopher Hitchens

28. Christopher Hitchens On Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox.


Sigmund Freud

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

30. 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.
Karl Marx


George Bernard Shaw

31. 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

32. Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.
Blaise Pascal

32. You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend.
Richard Jeni

34. With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg

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

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

37. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.
Robert Ingersoll

38. The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.
Huang Po

39. Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
Benjamin Disraeli

40. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.
Unknown

41. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
Dave Barry

42. Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
- Epicurus

43. The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.
Eric Hoffer

44. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder.
Bill Maher

45. There’s a phrase we live by in America: “In God We Trust”. It’s right there where Jesus would want it: on our money.

46. If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.
Baron D’Holbach, cited in Jonathan Miller. (2004). A Brief History of Disbelief [TV-Series].

47. If I thought the Jews killed God, I’d worship the Jews.
Bill Hicks

48. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
Isaac Asimov

49. A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.
José Bergamín

50. One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.
Arthur C. Clarke

I'm particularly fond of #42 #32, #31, #42, and #20

[Frank Hipper]

12 and 35 are golden...That Mark Twain was active and popular in Victorian America never ceases to amaze.

[Darth Servo]

You like 42 so much, you named it twice in your favorite '5' list.

[Aorus]

9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

I understand that this is targeted at fear/punishment by a deity, but this statement describes the basis of pretty much all our actions, regardless of our beliefs.

[Lusankya]

9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

I understand that this is targeted at fear/punishment by a deity, but this statement describes the basis of pretty much all our actions, regardless of our beliefs.

Bullshit. My sister's Labrador understands the concept of charity. Hell, my cats understand the concept of charity, and they're selfish pricks. If my pets can understand the concept of "being nice because it's the right thing to do", then humans can sure as hell figure it out as well.

[FSTargetDrone]

I always enjoy Twain's quotes decrying religion, so much so that I keep at least one in my sig.

Though it's too bad this one was not included among the selected Twain ones in the OP:

"If there is a God, he is a malign thug."

[Pablo Sanchez]

I understand that this is targeted at fear/punishment by a deity, but this statement describes the basis of pretty much all our actions, regardless of our beliefs.

So you've never done a nice thing for somebody with no expectation of recompense, or chosen not to do ill though you knew there would be no punishment?

[Androsphinx]

Satre: "God doesn't exist - the bastard!"

[Coalition]

#28 is funny to me.

[Ritterin Sophia]

9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

I understand that this is targeted at fear/punishment by a deity, but this statement describes the basis of pretty much all our actions, regardless of our beliefs.

That's what we like to call sociopathy.

[Marko Dash]

i don't get 28, is he saying the guy is such a homophobe that an enema would cause him to spontaneously combust?

[FSTargetDrone]

i don't get 28, is he saying the guy is such a homophobe that an enema would cause him to spontaneously combust?

28. Christopher Hitchens On Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox.

I think it's more along the lines that Falwell is large and full of shit, so take that away and there isn't much left.

[Rye]

I think it's more along the lines that Falwell is large and full of shit, so take that away and there isn't much left.

That's precisely it.

In context (and a million other awesome quotes) it can be seen here. Fucking awesome.

[Aorus]

At General Schatten, Pablo Sanchez, Lusankya:

What I meant was, that our actions are driven by motivators and demotivators (i.e. reward and punishment).

So you've never done a nice thing for somebody with no expectation of recompense, or chosen not to do ill though you knew there would be no punishment?

If by recompense and punishment you mean by external forces, then of course I have, because my motivation was intrinsic. It's emotionally satisfying to do good (my "reward") and dissatisfying to do ill.

That's what we like to call sociopathy.

The problem with sociopaths is that their moral code is fucked up and they don't have the same intrinsic reward/punishment that normal people do. Their motivators and demotivators are much more selfish.

As I said in my first post, the context of the quote obviously indicates that punishment and reward are meant in the external sense, but IMO the quote itself isn't exactly "atheist."

[Superman]

Ditto the comments about Twain. The man was an amazing figure.

I think Ghandi and Freud hit the nail on the head as well.

[Spyder]

At General Schatten, Pablo Sanchez, Lusankya:

What I meant was, that our actions are driven by motivators and demotivators (i.e. reward and punishment).

They know what you mean. It's still wrong unless you're going to count 'knowing you've done the right thing regardless of personal cost' as a reward.

[chitoryu12]

What I meant was, that our actions are driven by motivators and demotivators (i.e. reward and punishment).

Of course they are. Similar to what Spyder said, simply being happy because you did good is a reward. The context you put your statement in implied that basically everything we ever do is out of either fear or greed for a reward. I'm not going to turn in a lost wallet only because I hope that the owner will slip a fifty in my pocket. I would do it because I would just feel good about myself.

[DarthShady]

34. With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg

I love this quote.I have learned from personal experience what religious people will do for religion.

[Terralthra]

At General Schatten, Pablo Sanchez, Lusankya:

What I meant was, that our actions are driven by motivators and demotivators (i.e. reward and punishment).

You're redefining "punishment" in the moral sense to include "feeling bad because you know you did something wrong" and "reward" to include "feeling good because you know you did something right." Such a redefinition is practically a mockery of the terms involved.

Punishment and reward as they are talked about in moral codes implicitly rely on external actors providing the reward or punishment.

[Adrian Laguna]

You're redefining "punishment" in the moral sense to include "feeling bad because you know you did something wrong" and "reward" to include "feeling good because you know you did something right." Such a redefinition is practically a mockery of the terms involved.

Punishment and reward as they are talked about in moral codes implicitly rely on external actors providing the reward or punishment.

Hardly, most moral codes treat unrepentant transgressors more harshly than those who do repent. Part of the reason is that remorse is a form of self-punishment, and self-punishment is a form of punishment.


Interestingly, it is possible to redefine the majority of selfless acts as selfish ones. I did it once as an intellectual exercise. The frame of thought I arrived at is that if you "selflessly" help people, you are benefiting society, and since you are a member of society, you are benefiting yourself. I have been, however, unable to redefine any selfless acts directed toward members of other societies as selfless acts. The only way to do that is to stretch what constitutes the benefactor's society such that it also covers the benefactee.

[Darth Wong]

At General Schatten, Pablo Sanchez, Lusankya:

What I meant was, that our actions are driven by motivators and demotivators (i.e. reward and punishment).

So you've never done a nice thing for somebody with no expectation of recompense, or chosen not to do ill though you knew there would be no punishment?

If by recompense and punishment you mean by external forces, then of course I have, because my motivation was intrinsic. It's emotionally satisfying to do good (my "reward") and dissatisfying to do ill.

That's what we like to call sociopathy.

The problem with sociopaths is that their moral code is fucked up and they don't have the same intrinsic reward/punishment that normal people do. Their motivators and demotivators are much more selfish.

As I said in my first post, the context of the quote obviously indicates that punishment and reward are meant in the external sense, but IMO the quote itself isn't exactly "atheist."

In other words, your comment was totally fucking irrelevant to the point being made or the quote in question, moron. You can't say that you have a problem with a quote and then explain that problem by redefining the terms of the quote.

[Aorus]

Punishment and reward as they are talked about in moral codes implicitly rely on external actors providing the reward or punishment.

Ah. Well, I guess I was writing out of ignorance then.

The whole reason I brought it up though, was because I showed the quote to a friend who interpreted it the way I wrote earlier, and it made sense to me that way as well. To someone who isn't versed in the semantics of moral codes, or rather, from a purely psychological point of view, the quote can easily be interpreted the way my friend did.

[Darth Wong]

Punishment and reward as they are talked about in moral codes implicitly rely on external actors providing the reward or punishment.

Ah. Well, I guess I was writing out of ignorance then.

The whole reason I brought it up though, was because I showed the quote to a friend who interpreted it the way I wrote earlier, and it made sense to me that way as well. To someone who isn't versed in the semantics of moral codes, or rather, from a purely psychological point of view, the quote can easily be interpreted the way my friend did.

So? All that means is that your friend is just as stupid as you are. The phrase "fear punishment and hope for reward" cannot be interpreted as "motivated by their own internal value systems" unless you're either a liar or an idiot. Nor can it be interpreted as analogous in any way.

[Rye]

34. With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg

I love this quote.I have learned from personal experience what religious people will do for religion.

It's wrong, though. Religion would be better replaced with "an ideology" of which religions are just a particularly irrational and successful type. I'm sure all sorts of good people would do horrible things for their country, for instance.

[Darth Smiley]

Marxist Communism probably qualifies.

My personal favorite is number 42 (and no, thats not just because 42 is everything).