Archive

Quotes

The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

—Robertson Davies, 1985

Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?

—Aristophanes, 423 BC

Men willingly believe what they wish.

—Julius Caesar, c. 50 BC

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

—Derek Walcott, 1986

One thing alone not even God can do: to make undone whatever has been done.

—Aristotle, c. 350 BC

Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.

—Marlene Dietrich, 1962

The Mughal’s nature is such that they demand miracles, but if a miracle were to be performed by some upright follower of our religion, they would say that it had been brought about by magic and sorcery. They would strike him down with spears or would stone him to death.

—Fr. Antonio Monserrate, 1590

Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.

—Lucretius, c. 58 BC

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.

—Tom Robbins, 1976

Nothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind.

—Woody Allen, 1979

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching toward him and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange.

—Elias Canetti, 1960

Appearances often are deceiving.

—Aesop, c. 550 BC