On Faith and Religion
We walk by faith, not by sight.
—The Bible (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Do not seek to understand in order to believe.
—Saint Augustine
1
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has.
—Martin Luther, 1569
***
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
—Anonymous
2
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t
be taken on its own merits. It is intellectual bankruptcy.
—Dan Barker, 1992
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for
it terrifying and absolutely vile.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 1966
Belief is the antithesis to thinking.
—Bergen Evans, 1946
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
1
From his Tractates on the Gospel of John, written in the fifth century AD.
2
This is a popular paraphrase of a much longer line by Friedrich Nietzsche (circa 1888).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_8
73
We walk by faith, not by sight.
—The Bible (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Do not seek to understand in order to believe.
—Saint Augustine
1
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has.
—Martin Luther, 1569
***
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
—Anonymous
2
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t
be taken on its own merits. It is intellectual bankruptcy.
—Dan Barker, 1992
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for
it terrifying and absolutely vile.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 1966
Belief is the antithesis to thinking.
—Bergen Evans, 1946
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
1
From his Tractates on the Gospel of John, written in the fifth century AD.
2
This is a popular paraphrase of a much longer line by Friedrich Nietzsche (circa 1888).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_8
73