Philosophy Religion Quotes

We are the Gods, who create Gods, and then we turn into worshipers seeking comfort and solace from those Gods that we create. And we do all this, in order to have as much soothing existence as possible. ~ Abhijit Naskar

Resurrection" does not mean resumption of previous existence but entry into a different kind of existence. ~ Marcus J. Borg

One must die to an old way of being in order to enter a new way of being... salvation is resurrection to a new way of being here and now. ~ Marcus J. Borg

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun. ~ Alan W. Watts

He stole glances at the heathen faces of Bodien and Gaylord, the suffering, yet oddly consoled, eyes and mouth of Basellecci, noting the brave enthusiasm of men who had never dreamed of anything very definite, and it occurred to him through the reek of his person that there was only one hope for him, and for all people who had lost, through intelligence, the hope of immortality. "We must love and delight in each other and in ourselves!" he cried. ~ Edward Lewis Wallant

Every moment of our life has a purpose, that every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine or trivial it may seem in itself, has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding ... For it means that no moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in man's life, each has a purpose in God's plan. Think of your day, today or yesterday. Think of the work you did, the people you met, moment by moment. What did it mean to you- and might it have meant for God? Is the question too simple to answer, or are we just afraid to ask it for fear of the answer we must give? ~ Walter J. Ciszek

Religions are branches from a common trunk - Divine Wisdom. ~ Annie Besant

It is with philosophy as with religion : men marvel at the absurdity of other people's tenets, while exactly parallel absurdities remain in their own. ~ John Stuart Mill

To connect is to dissolve the imaginary pyramids of artificial privilege. ~ Stefan Molyneux

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.

7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
"See, this is new"?
It has been already
in the ages before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after. ~ Anonymous

Wisdom from Within

Energy is a funny thing. It can be used, stored or even abused. The energy that we put into life, and I don't mean running around, but through prayer and positive thoughts. These can be stored and then called upon in an hour of need. This is why miracles happen. No matter what religion or faith you are.
The universe is here for a reason and you have to find out what that reason is. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

We hold the future still timidly, but perceive it for the first time as a function of our own action. ~ J. D. Bernal

[Buddhism and Christianity] are in one sense parallel and equal; as a mound and a hollow, as a valley and a hill. There is a sense in which that sublime despair is the only alternative to that divine audacity. It is even true that the truly spiritual and intellectual man sees it as sort of dilemma; a very hard and terrible choice. There is little else on earth that can compare with these for completeness. And he who does not climb the mountain of Christ does indeed fall into the abyss of Buddha. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Religion of the masses is absurd. But so is their science! ~ Raheel Farooq

Beyond the visible is invisible. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

They say that the devil speaks in many tongues, and it is true, for here on Earth we speak in many different tongues.
We tell many lies.
We feed on the children and the souls of man as if it was nothing of consequence.
It was the devil who transformed heaven into hell.
And that devil is us! ~ Anthony T. Hincks

The only debatable issue, it seems to me, is whether it is more ridiculous to turn to experts in social theory for general well-confirmed propositions, or to the specialists in the great religions and philosophical systems for insights into fundamental human values. ~ Noam Chomsky

It's better to have a million small religions with each one containing a great truth. Than one great religion containing a million small truths. ~ Carla VanKoughnett

If one knew the truth how could there be freedom? If hell and paradise were in the middle of the marketplace, everyone would be a saint. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

So you don't think that God created the brain?' I asked.
'No, I don't think that,' Dr. Enderby replied. 'I think that the brain created God. Because the human brain, however wonderful, is still quite fallible - as both you and I know. It's always searching for answers, but even when it's working as it should, its explanations are rarely perfect - especially when it comes to very big, complicated questions. That's why we have to nurture it. We have to give it plenty of space to develop. ~ Gavin Extence

When science has killed god, science will be god. ~ Rick Julian

Be brave. Be free from philosophies, prophets and holy lies. Go deep into your feelings and explore the mystery of your body, mind and soul. You will find the truth. ~ Amit Ray

Each stage of your life
is like petals of a flower...
unfolding and opening until it comes to full bloom...You will blossom and then you die...But know that this is not your ending. ~ Summerlyn Guthrie

Brutality goes hand in hand with orthodoxy, be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Atheistic or any other. ~ Abhijit Naskar

The body is wiser than its inhabitants. the body is the soul. the body is god's messenger. ~ Erica Jong

The scepticism which men affect towards their higher inspirations is often not an honest doubt, but a guilty negligence, and is a sign of narrow mind and defective wisdom. ~ James Martineau

याता लोचन-गोचरं यदि विधेर् एणेक्षणा सुन्दरी

नेयं कुङ्कुम-पङ्क-पिञ्जर-मुखी तेनोज्झिता स्यात् क्षणम् ।

नाप्यामीलित-लोचनस्य रचनाद् रूपं भवेद् ईदृशं

तस्मात् सर्वम् अकर्तृकं जगद् इदं श्रेयो मतं सौगतम् ।। (Subhāṣita-Ratna-Koṣa 440)

If this gazelle-eyed beauty had crossed the creator's eyes,

he could never have let her go.

And surely,

he couldn't have produced these features with his eyes closed.

From this we see that the Buddhists have it right:

There is no creator. ~ Dharmakirti

We are ultimately unknowable to ourselves and others. Our past and future are mostly unknowable. God is unknowable. For the present the universe - its origins and its destiny - is unknowable, as is whether there are many universes. Infinity is unknowable. These are some of the fundamental reasons why I call myself an agnostic. ~ Michael Krasny

Science may eventually explain the world of How. The ultimate world of Why may remain for contemplation, philosophy, religion. ~ Liberty Hyde Bailey

[L]ife is more than just steering a course around pain. ~ Stephen King

My religion is to live - and die - without regret. ~ Milarepa

Life is a sacred breath. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Deities are invented by fallible and finite beings in the hope and desire to create immortal perfection; unfortunately, such deities only reflect their creators and inspire their followers to similar imperfections. ~ L.E. Modesitt Jr.

To understand our faith -- to theologize in the Catholic tradition -- we need philosophy. We must use the philosophical language of God, person, creation, relationship, identity, natural law, virtues, conscience, moral norms if we are to think about religion and defend it. Theology has some terms and methods of its own, but its fundamental tools are borrowed from philosophy.

The growth of religious fundamentalism and the collapse of religious education mean theology is more urgently needed in universities -- especially Catholic ones -- than ever before. ~ George Cardinal Pell

Art, science, philosophy, religion
each offers at best only a crude simplification of actual living experience. ~ Edward Abbey

Imagination is glow of thoughts by supernatural force. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

It is evident as a matter of logic that, since they (world religions) disagree, not more than one of them can be true. ~ Bertrand Russell

But where was God now, with heaven full of astronauts, and the Lord overthrown? I miss God. I miss the company of someone utterly loyal. I still don't think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God, yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss God who was my friend. I don't even know if God exists, but I do know that if God is your emotional role model, very few human relationships will match up to it. I have an idea that one day it might be possible, I thought once it had become possible, and that glimpse has set me wandering, trying to find the balance between earth and sky. If the servants hadn't rushed in and parted us, I might have been disappointed, might have snatched off the white samite to find a bowl of soup.

As it is, I can't settle, I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and know that love is as strong as death, and be on my side for ever and ever. I want someone who will destroy and be destroyed by me. There are many forms of love and affection, some people can spend their whole lives together without knowing each other's names. Naming is a difficult and time-consuming process; it concerns essences, and it means power. But on the wild nights who can call you home? Only the one who knows your name. Romantic love has been diluted into paperback form and has sold thousands and millions of copies. Somewhere it is still in the original, written on tablets of stone. I would cross seas and suffer sunstroke and give away all I ha ~ Jeanette Winterson

This example, it seems to us, suffices to show in what way the nonreligious man of modern societies is still nourished and aided by the activity of his unconscious, yet without thereby attaining to a properly religious experience and vision of the world. The unconscious offers him solutions for the difficulties of his own life, and in this way plays the role of religion, for, before making an existence a creator of values, religion ensures its integrity, From one point of view it could almost be said that in the case of those moderns who proclaim that they are nonreligious, religion and mythology are "eclipsed" in the darkness of their unconscious - which means too that in such men the possibility of reintegrating a religious vision of life lies at a great depth. Or, from the Christian point of view, it could also be said that nonreligion is equivalent to a new "fall" of man - in other words, that nonreligious man has lost the capacity to live religion consciously, and hence to understand and assume it; but that, in his deepest being, he still retains a memory of it, as, after the first "fall," his ancestor, the primordial man, retained intelligence enough to enable him to rediscover the traces of God that are visible in the world. After the first "fall," the religious sense descended to the level of the ' 'divided" consciousness"; now, after the second, it has fallen even further, into the depths of the unconscious; it has been "forgotten," Here the considerations of the hi ~ Mircea Eliade

Yoga subsumes all; God, religion, and philosophy. ~ Aporva Kala

Currently spirituality is at an ebb in the more advanced technological societies. This in part because memes that validate spiritual order tend to lose their credibility with time, and need to be recast in new forms again and again. At present we are living in an era when many of the basic tenents of Christianity, which has supported Western spiritual values for almost two thousand yearsm have come into conflict with the conclusions of science and philosophy. While religions have lost much of their power, science and technology have not been able to generate convincing value systems to replace them. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

When God walks, he leaves a trail of stardust in his wake.
When I walk, I have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs so that I can find my way home. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

One day Lal shahbaz was wandering in the desert with his friend Sheikh Bhaa ud-Din Zakariya. It was winter, and evening time, so they began to build a fire to keep warm. They found some wood, but then they realised they had no fire. So Baha ud- Din suggested that Lal Shahbaz turn himself into a falcon and get fire from hell. Off he flew, but an hour later he came back empty handed. "There is no fire in hell," he reported. "Everyone who goes there brings their own fire, and their own pain, from this world. ~ William Dalrymple

From the stars we came, and to the stars we return. ~ Jack Campbell

Someday when we get around to writing a genealogy of our failures, inadequacies, and disappointments, an important place in such a study will be the books we never read, for whatever reason. Aside from the music we never listened to, the movies we never watched, or the old archives and maps we never explored, the books we never read will be one of the indicators of our anachronisms and our flawed humanity. ~ Boris Gunjevic

Everyone doesn't need to have the same beliefs, we just need to start believing in everyone. ~ Sam Killermann

The call to the creative life is a call to dignity, to a life of vulnerability and adventure and the call to a life that exquisite excitement and indeed ecstasy will often visit. ~ John O'Donohue

Do you believe in God, doctor?
No - but what does that really mean? I'm fumbling in the dark, struggling to make something out. But I've long ceased finding that original. ~ Albert Camus

The more perfect a thing the more it feels good and evil. ~ Dante Alighieri

There is so a real poem," said Fatima, annoyed. "The real Conference of the Birds was written by someone, by a real person. He had certain intentions. I want to know what they are. He wrote the poem for a reason, and the reason matters."

"Does it?" Vikram stretched his toes, revealing a row of claws as black as obsidian. "Once a story leaves the hand of its author, it belongs to the reader. And the reader may see any number of things, conflicting things, contradictory things. The author goes silent. If what he intended matter so very much, there would be no need for inquisitions, schisms and wars. But he is silent, silent. The author of the poem is silent, the author of the world is silent. We are left with no intentions but our own. ~ G. Willow Wilson

To embrace the belief that man is the accidental product of a random and otherwise genetically and biologically impossible Darwinian gradual evolution allegedly monitored by a quasi-fictitious natural selection, a process that supposedly started with an amoeba nobody knows how it arrived on Earth that somehow became a fish with stumps for legs that turned crocodile, a creature that following successive transmutations "evolved" into an ape that ended up as Leonardo Da Vinci is an attitude that comes in conflict with the scientific method of research and it certainly violates its standard principles. ~ Paul Greene

We shall be compelled to renounce the hope of finding philosophical proofs of religious beliefs ... Hence, once more, the value of philosophy must not depend upon any supposed body of definitely ascertainable knowledge to be acquired by those who study it. ~ Bertrand Russell

The bigger the government, the more the corruption. It's almost never mentioned, and it might be the biggest of the ten principles that I am speaking of ... Do you know who has created the greatest evils of history? Big governments. Big SECULAR governments. Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, all big States. Why would anybody trust the big state? It's amazing how many callers have imbued the college message that more people have been killed by religion than anything else in history. NO. More people have been killed by governments than anything else in history ... ... .and just in the 20th century alone, and none of them were religious. You don't learn THAT in college. ~ Dennis Prager

According to the Buddha's teaching the beginning of the life-stream of living beings is unthinkable. THe believer in the creation of life by God may be astonished at this reply. But if you were to ask him 'What is the beginning of God?' he would answer without hesitation 'God has no beginning', and he is not astonished at his own reply. ~ Walpola Rahula

We only borrow this body we're in during our lifetime. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

Unfortunately, religion often works to shrink and tame the very wild and mysterious forces that first drew our wonder. In the process of making the inexplicable safe for the masses, the possibilities for real illusion-piercing insight becomes reduced. One might say that they are only available to those who dare to ride the breaking crest of direct life-altering experience. ~ Stephen K. Hayes

Praying five times a day does not make a person religious, helping five people does. Saying grace before meal does not make a person religious, helping another person acquire meal does. ~ Abhijit Naskar

The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Religion and philosophy have different logics, speak different languages. Their logics are mutually exclusive, languages sometimes overlapping. It is hard to find something really common in them. I think I
a man in totally unconditional pursuit of happiness, whatever it is, wherever it lies
am only supposed to consider which of them has more in common with life! ~ Raheel Farooq

Life on Earth is not the result of a series of miracles performed by a supernatural god-creator, and it is definitely not a product of matter having a mind of its own, of an equally miraculous evolutionary process supervised by Lady Natural Selection who would turn rabbits into lions. ~ Paul Greene

There is no justice in the laws of nature, no term for fairness in the equations of motion. The Universe is neither evil, nor good, it simply does not care. The stars don't care, or the Sun, or the sky.
But they don't have to! WE care! There IS light in the world, and it is US! ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky

They who search after the Philosopher's Stone [are] by their own rules obliged to a strict and religious life. ~ Isaac Newton

When hell freezes over the Earth shall be covered in snow. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

A religious system is to be judged by its idea of God, for it is upon this that its whole structure rests. ~ John Daniel

I'm not against the concept of Creators/God, I'm against the antiquated beliefs that there are evil things, which are merely axioms we concocted out of our inadequacy as mortal beings, primitive brain, and underdeveloped technology. ~ Andreas Laurencius

To know, you need to be. To be, you do not need to know. ~ Sw. Chidananda Tirtha

The most boring and unproductive question one can ask of any religion is whether or not it is true. ~ Alain De Botton

Even though people about us choose the path of hate and violence and warfare and greed and prejudice, we who are Christ's body must throw off these poisons and let love permeate and cleanse every tissue and cell. Nor are we to allow ourselves to become easily discouraged when love is not always obviously successful or pleasant. Love never quits, even when an enemy has hit you on the right cheek and you have turned the other, and he's also hit that. ~ Clarence Jordan

Religion?" Mr Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe in religion. Religion is darkness. ~ Yann Martel

Religion became the evil of our society when it started to teach resentment and hate instead of unconditional love and wisdom. ~ Debasish Mridha

When you want to know how God wants you to reach your city, start a new church, or be involved in His work, ask Him. Then when He tells you, don't be surprised if you can't find any church that is doing it the same way. ~ Henry T. Blackaby

At the basis of the whole modern view of the world lies the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanations of natural phenomena. So people stop short at natural laws as at something unassailable, as did the ancients at God and Fate.
And they both are right and wrong. But the ancients were clearer, in so far as they recognized one clear conclusion, whereas in the modern system it should appear as though everything were explained. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

You know, I don't believe that religions are religions. No, I believe they are philosophies with some good ideas and some fuckin' weird ones. ~ Eddie Izzard

Whether you call yourself a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu or an Atheist, if you have kindness in your heart and compassion in your act, you are on the right path of religion. ~ Abhijit Naskar

Belief, Faith, and God do not ask you to follow them blindly. Choose it with all your heart! ~ Nikita Dudani

There has never been a philosophy, a theory or a doctrine, that attacked (or 'limited') reason, which did not preach submission to the power of some authority. ~ Ayn Rand

The church has never been asked to explain anything, our speciality, along with ballistics, has always been the neutralisation of the overly curious mind through faith. ~ Jose Saramago

Mysteries are the evidence to errors in our religious and historical precepts. ~ Matthew A. Petti

First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It looks at things objectively (yathābhūtam). It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool's paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness. ~ Walpola Rahula

The goddess will always smile,
For those in her light,
For she will show them love,
On many a given night.
Bathing in her beauty,
Seeing her heavenly glow,
As she surrounds her brethren,
On the land called Earth below.
Her brethren will rejoice,
When they feel her light,
As it travels through their body,
On those given nights.
So say,
Blessed Be!
And welcome her to thee,
For she will be with you always,
Our goddess,
Blessed Be! ~ Anthony T. Hincks

To get people to do needed things is the perennial hard task of government, not to mention of religion and philosophy. ~ Gore Vidal

All religions, nearly all philosophies, and even a part of science testify to the unwearying, heroic effort of mankind desperately denying its contingency. ~ Jacques Monod

We ... sin not because we want what is evil, but because we want what isn't good enough. ~ Scott Hahn

If one shifts the center of gravity of life out of life into the "Beyond" – into nothingness – one has deprived life as such of its center of gravity. The great lie of personal immortality destroys all rationality, all naturalness of instinct, all that is salutary, all that is life-furthering. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

there's no better system than our own morality, not law, not science, not religion… just decency. ~ Rebecca McNutt

Quit Believing in Lies and Always Search For the Truth! ~ Charleston Parker

Love sustains life. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I concede to my atheist opponents that belief or unbelief is a choice. As a choice, it is based upon desire. I desire, and therefore choose to believe in, one kind of universe, one that has laws and purpose with justice woven into its very fabric. The unbeliever desires, and therefore chooses to believe in, a chaotic universe where the dead remain dead and actions have no effect beyond their immediately observable consequences. ~ Peter Hitchens

When we say, "God is love," we are saying something very great and true. But it would be senseless to grasp this saying in a simple-minded way as a simple definition, without analyzing what love is. For love is a distinguishing of two, who nevertheless are absolutely not distinguished for each other. The consciousness or feeling of the identity of the two - to be outside of myself and in the other - this is love. I have my self-consciousness not in myself but in the other. I am satisfied and have peace with myself only in this other - and I am only because I have peace with myself; if I did not have it, then I would be a contradiction that falls to pieces. This other, because it likewise exists outside itself, has its self-consciousness only in me, and both the other and I are only this consciousness of being-outside-ourselves and of our identity; we are only this intuition, feeling, and knowledge of our unity. This is love, and without knowing that love is both a distinguishing and the sublation of the distinction, one speaks emptily of it. This is the simple, eternal idea. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Because we imagine that we are what humanity was divinely destined to become, we assume that our prehistoric ancestors were trying to be us, but just lacked the tools and techniques to succeed. We invest our ancestors with our own predelictions in what seem to us primitive and unevolved forms. As an example of all this, we take it for granted that our religions represent humanity's ultimate and highest spiritual development and expect to find among our ancestors only crude, fumbling harbingers of these religions. We certainly don't expect to find robust, fully developed religions whose expressions are entirely different from ours. ~ Daniel Quinn

When I'm not writing, I read loads of fiction, but I've been writing quite constantly lately so I've been reading a lot of nonfiction - philosophy, religion, science, history, social or cultural studies. ~ Irvine Welsh

When you sleep with the devil be careful that he doesn't leave the seed of a demon inside of you. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

Perhaps not one religion contains all of the truth of the world. Perhaps every religion contains fragments of the truth, and it is our responsibility to identify those fragments and piece them together. ~ Christopher Paolini

The white man's god is just like the white man. He thinks he is the only god, just like the white man thinks he is the only man. But the only reason he is god instead of Nyame or Chukwu or whoever is because we let him be. We do not fight him. We do not even question him. The white man told us he was the way, and we said yes, but when has the white man ever told us something was good for us and tat thing was really good? ~ Yaa Gyasi

That everything in nature has "the appearance" of design is not exactly evidence against design. According to Dawkins, though, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is almost certainly something else. ~ Paul Greene

Life is the spirituality of the soul. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Whether divine or human, it is precisely the imagination that fashions and recognizes the universe as meaningful, abiding, and valuable, that is to say, as real. ~ William K. Mahony

It does not follow, because our ancestors made so many errors of fact and mixed them with their religion, that we should therefore leave off being religious at all. By being religious we establish ourselves in possession of ultimate reality at the only points at which reality is given us to guard. Our responsible concern is with our private destiny, after all. ~ William James

No soul has the power to save. You can only tell others about the Saviour. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita