Quotes about religion

Perhaps the most lasting pleasure in life is the pleasure of not going to church.

—William Inge

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Whilst you live, a little religion seems enough; but believe me, it requires a great deal when you come to die.

—Geraldine Jewsbury

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There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham.

—Anna Sewell

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I am still looking for the modern equivalent of those Quakers who ran successful businesses, made money because they offered honest products and treated their people decently, worked hard, spent honestly, saved honestly, gave honest value for money, put back more than they took out, and told no lies. This business creed, sadly, seems long forgotten.

—Anita Roddick

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A religious life is a struggle and not a hymn.

—Madame de Stael

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Aldous Huxley suggested that the psalm-singing of Christian and Buddhist monks, the chanting of medicine men and shamans, and the shouting and screaming of revivalists for hours on end bring about an increase in the carbon-dioxide level, triggering an altered state.

—James Alcock

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It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

—Mahatma Gandhi

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Stop thinking this is all there is. . . . Realize that for every ongoing war and religious outrage and environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi attack plan, there are a thousand counter-balancing acts of staggering generosity and humanity and art and beauty happening all over the world, right now, on a breathtaking scale, from flower box to cathedral. . . . Resist the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic towel. . . . Realize that this is the perfect moment to change the energy of the world, to step right up and crank your personal volume; right when it all seems dark and bitter and offensive and acrimonious and conflicted and bilious . . . there's your opening. Remember magic. And, finally, believe you are part of a groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of something important and potent and unstoppable.

—Mark Morford

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All religions begin with the cry "Help.

—William James

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I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith. It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.

—Mark Twain

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Q: What's the difference between religion and patriotism?
A: When a dog howls at the moon, that's religion. When a dog barks at a stranger, that's patriotism.

—Unknown

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I don't think, in our kind of society, we'll be able to develop a full-blown mystical religion or concept of God because we seek instant gratification, fast food, endless talk and noise. The silence in mysticism is alien. People want to do a few courses in mysticism, rather like the way you do French before going on holiday, and emerge a mystic. Mysticism isn't like that.

—Karen Armstrong

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The first time I sang in the church choir; two hundred people changed their religion.

—Fred Allen

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My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.

—Christopher Morley in Hide and Seek

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True myths may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal. The real mystery is not destroyed by reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You look at the Blond Hero — really look — and he turns into a gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you. The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him. "You must change your life," he said. When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message: "You must change your life.