At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and read more

At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and a version of history. To human nature (of the sort conceived), in a universe (of the kind imagined), after a history (so understood), the rules of the code apply.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it.

The discussions of every age are filled with the issues on which its leading schools of thought differ. But the read more

The discussions of every age are filled with the issues on which its leading schools of thought differ. But the general intellectual atmosphere of the time is always determined by the views on which the opposing schools agree. They become the unspoken presuppositions of all thought, and common and unquestioningly accepted foundations on which all discussion proceeds.

It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible.

It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible.

There is only one greater folly than that of the fool who says in his heart there is no God, read more

There is only one greater folly than that of the fool who says in his heart there is no God, and that is the folly of the people that says with its head that it does not know whether there is a God or not.

Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand.

Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.

Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.

...the ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but read more

...the ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs.