atheism

atheism

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. Billions and Billions
We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. The God Delusion
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 suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.
Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
To you, I'm an atheist. To God, I'm the loyal opposition.
Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...
Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature.
I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day. The Salmon of Doubt
Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. Questions sur les Miracles à M. Claparede, Professeur de Théologie à Genève, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de M. de Voltaire
I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist. Notebooks 1951-1959
Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.
[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.
After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.
I did not marry the first girl that I fell in love with, because there was a tremendous religious conflict, at the time. She was an atheist, and I was an agnostic.
If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.
I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage
The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. Speeches and Writings, 1832-1858
I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated." (<em>Notebooks</em>)