The Quote Thread.

[zumby]

“How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares ‘God wills it thus.’ Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

[Mr Muck McFold]

“I wish all mankind had one neck so I could choke it”. - Carl Panorama

‘If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the
point of trying to modify your behaviour to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s
how I thought anyway. I always believed
the theory of evolution as truth, that we all
just came from the slime. When we, when
we died, you know, that was it, there is
nothing. . . ’ Jeffrey Dahmer,

[asdfasdf32]

Originally Posted by Mr Muck McFold

“I wish all mankind had one neck so I could choke it”. - Carl Panorama

It's Carl Panzram, not Panarama. (On a serial killer kick lately?)

[batair]

The great thing about all the quotes and stuff about morals not existing is the irony. They couldn't of even been written without morals. There would be no society or writing without them. - Me

[jokerthief]

Originally Posted by batair

The great thing about all the quotes and stuff about morals not existing is the irony. They couldn't of even been written without morals. There would be no society or writing without them. - Me

I like it.

[Mr Muck McFold]

People who believe in morals are no better than people who believe in God.

MMM

So writing = morals. Could you prove that?

[Original Position]

If you want to talk about morality, do so in one of the other 5 threads currently on that topic.

[Splendour]

Originally Posted by zumby

“How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares ‘God wills it thus.’ Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote:

Napoleon Bonaparte had a strong belief in God, but he voiced many criticisms of organized religion.

He is frequently quoted as saying: "As for myself, I do not believe that such a person as Jesus Christ ever existed; but as the people are inclined to superstition, it is proper not to oppose them." However, other quotes by Napoleon indicate a strong belief in Jesus Christ. Possibly Napoleon's views changed over time, or possibly some quoted have been inaccurately attributed to him.

A number of quotes attributed to Napoleon indicate a utilitarian view of religion. "Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."; He also said: "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich" (quoted from Robert Byrne, 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1988).

From: Ervin Shaw, "Napoleon Bonaparte: 'Emperor' to EMPEROR" webpage, posted circa 2000, latest addition 14 August 2005; in "Christian Testimonies" section of "The Truth . . . What Is It?" website (http://poptop.hypermart.net/testnapb.html; viewed 7 November 2005):

"I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity..." So says Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), emperor of France.
Napoleon expressed the following thoughts while he was exiled on the rock of St. Helena. There, the conqueror of civilized Europe had time to reflect on the measure of his accomplishments. He called Count Montholon to his side and asked him, "Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?" The count declined to respond. Napoleon countered:

Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. . . . I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man; none else is like Him: Jesus Christ was more than a man. . . . I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me . . . but to do this is was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lightened up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Whatever else one may say in response, it is difficult to explain this away as mere eloquence. In fact, it was to counter mere eloquence and such artificial power that Napoleon said what he did. With unbelievable insight, he saw how Jesus Christ conquered. It was not by force, but by winning the heart.

-- from Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias, 2000, W. Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee...quoting from Henry Parry Liddon, Liddon's Bampton Lectures 1866 (London: Rivingtons, 1869), 148.

[Hitch-22]

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
-Galileo Galilei

"When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself."
-Peter O'Toole.

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself."
-Richard Francis Burton

[EnlightenedRaise]

Alan Watts

"Holiness goes way beyond being good. Good people aren't necessarily holy.
A holy person is one who has, as it were, reconciled his opposites. And so, there is always something that is slightly scary about holy people."

[EnlightenedRaise]

Carlos Castaneda

"Within these premises, the only thing one can be is an impeccable mediator.
One is not the player in this cosmic match of chess, one is simply a pawn on the chessboard.
What decides everything is a conscious impersonal energy that sorcerers call intent or the Spirit."

[NotReady]

Faulkner - Intruder in the Dust

...and he thought of man who apparently had to kill man not for motive or reason but simply for the sake the need the compulsion of having to kill man, inventing creating his motive and reason afterward so that he could still stand up among man as a rational creature...

[Splendour]

"At this point, godless materialists might be cheering. If humans evolved strictly by mutation and natural selection, who needs God to explain us? To this, I reply: I do. The comparison of chimp and human sequences, interesting as it is, does not tell us what it is to be human. In my view, DNA sequence alone, even if accompanied by a vast trove of data on biological function, will never explain certain special human attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal search for God. Freeing God from the burden of special acts of creation does not remove Him as the source of the things that make humanity special, and of the universe itself. It merely shows us something of how He operates."

Francis Collins, The Language of God, former head of the Human Genome Project and current head of the NIH

[Mr Muck McFold]

"Whatever gets you off, gets you off, you may be able to suppress these feelings, but whatever gets you off, gets you off"

[zenjedi]

“My perception is infinitely vast. I am the unbounded multiverse manifested in human form. I have gazed into the void and become one with the universal dark energy, and am now essentially a god. I am this planet's first prophet and emperor of the Infinite Empire, which will be called the New World Order, then the Galactic Empire, then surpass the power of the Guardians of the Universe, the Q Continuum, the Time Lords, the Monitors and even Azathoth the amorphous one, who bubbles and blasphemes at the center of infinity. I am beyond all Kardashev scales; I am the unity of all dualities; I am Satan; I am God; I am the Tao.” –Zenjedi