"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares
will plow for those who do not."
- Thomas Jefferson
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
If I knew that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life. Henry David Thoreau
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~ attributed to Chief Seattle, 1855
(Note: Chief Seattle probably didn’t actually say this, but it sounds good.)
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ~ Albert Einstein
God reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists. ~ Albert Einstein
When we come to the edge of all the light we have, and we step into the darkness, the unknown, we will find something solid we can stand upon, or I believe we will surely learn to fly. ~ Patrick Overton
Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe. ~ Albert Einstein
Universalists are often asked where they stand. The only true answer to give to this question is that we do not stand at all, we move. ~ L. B. Fisher
"We are here to abet creation and to witness to it, to notice each other's beautiful face and complex nature so that creation need not play to an empty house." ~ Annie Dillard
"It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure." ~ Albert Einstein
"I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reasons, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." ~ Galileo
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." ~ Albert Einstein
Contributed by Adele Villemez
“Insulting a restaurant might seem trivial compared to insulting God. But restauranteurs and chefs really exist, and they have feelings to be hurt , whereas blasphemy...is a victimless crime.” Richard Dawkins The God Delusion.
All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different
holidays. -Cathy Ladman, comedian, writer, actress (1955- )
"Difference of opinion is helpful in religion."
— Thomas Jefferson
"As people become more intelligent they care less for preachers and more for teachers."
Robert G. Ingersoll
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." Albert Einstein
For God so loved the world that he created the world in such a way that He would have to sacrifice Himself to Himself to apease Himself so if you believe this story, He will not be forced to torture you forever. John 3:16 (Utilitarian Translation)
THE ROUND SQUARE
Why is there a world at all? Guy stands up and says,
God made the world, and as for who made God, well,
That's just a mystery beyond us. Woman says,
A round square is not a mystery beyond us;
It's neither real nor imaginary; it's not a concept,
Not an object, neither nothing nor an entity.
He says, that's what I'm saying, it's incomprehensible.
No, she says, there's nothing there to comprehend.
He says, of course there is, and we both know it.
She says, you're bobbing for apples of relief, love
And immortality and along comes a word.
The word is a noun and pretty soon you're making it the subject
Of a world of verbs, and then the miracles begin. She says,
God is logic's corpse, a wound in reason, grammar's empty skin.
Jamey Hecht
"Just
when I discovered the meaning of life...it changed."
George
Carlin
***
If you have a favorite quote that you would
like to see on this website, send it along.
This page of quotes is for the edification and enjoyment of UUs and others that may wander to this page.
As a church/congregation we have a wide range of opinions on matters of spirituality and whether or not there are Deities in the universe. The spectrum is generally described as follows:
-
Strong Theist: "I do not believe, I know." (C.G. Jung)
-
Agnostic-leans toward Theism. (God(s) are highly probable)
-
Impartial Agnostic. (Existence or non-existence of god(s) are equally likely)
-
Agnostic leaning toward Atheism (Impossible to prove a negative but God(s) are as improbable as fairies or unicorns.)
-
Strong Atheist: I know there is no God(s) with the same conviction that Jung displays in # 1.
In general, UUs do not take an official position on these matters and assert that we believe that such beliefs are matters of individual experience and world-view. The quotes on this page that deal with these matters tend to hover between 3 and 4.8 although that should not be construed as an official UCDSM (Unitarian Church of Des Moines) dogma (of which we have none).
So we are looking for good quotes in the 1.5 to 3 range to balance out the range of quotes that might be viewed as tilting this page toward one side.
|
