No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the read more

No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the martyrs not quite beheaded. Far from diminishing the appetite for power, suffering exasperates it.

"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the read more

"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon and I have more faith in the Shadow than in the Church.

As a first approximation, I define "belief" not as the object of believing (a dogma, a program, etc.) but as read more

As a first approximation, I define "belief" not as the object of believing (a dogma, a program, etc.) but as the subject's investment in a proposition, the act of saying it and considering it as true.

Preaching is heady wine. It is pleasant to tell people where they get off.

Preaching is heady wine. It is pleasant to tell people where they get off.

I hope I never get so old I get religious.

I hope I never get so old I get religious.

Find fault when you must find fault in private, and if possible sometime after the offense, rather than at the read more

Find fault when you must find fault in private, and if possible sometime after the offense, rather than at the time.

It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and read more

It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.

Those of little faith are of little hatred.

Those of little faith are of little hatred.

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the read more

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.