A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. ~ Albert Einstein
Any body of men who believe in hell will persecute whenever they have the power. ~ Joseph M. McCabe
I can’t talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes. ~ George Bernard Shaw
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. ~ Susan B. Anthony
I've come to the conclusion that there can be little or no dialogue between 'proclaimers of truth' (religious and secular ideologues) and 'discoverers of truth' (empiricists). The former tend to debate, the latter tend to discuss. ~ Edward H. Ashment
Religious people scare me, spiritual people inspire me. ~ A button
Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -— several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. ~ Mark Twain
Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages. Ricjard Lederer
Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion. ~ Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate in physics
Religion is, by definition, interpretation; and by definition, all interpretations are valid. However, some interpretations are more reasonable than others. ~ Reza Aslan [1]
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. ~ Seneca the Younger
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. ~ Stendhal
Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas. ~ Clarence Darrow
The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... logic can be happily tossed out the window. ~ Stephen King
The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christianity, above all, consoles; but there are naturally happy souls who do not need consolation. Consequently, Christianity begins by making such souls unhappy, for otherwise it would have no power over them. ~ Andre Gide, journal entry, October 10, 1893
Christianity demands the crucifixion of the intellect. ~ Søren Kierkegaard
Christianity is most admirably adapted to the training of slaves, to the perpetuation of a slave society; in short, to the very conditions confronting us to-day.... The rulers of the earth have realized long ago what potent poison inheres in the Christian religion. That is the reason they foster it; that is why they leave nothing undone to instill it into the blood of the people. They know only too well that the subtleness of the Christian teachings is a more powerful protection against rebellion and discontent than the club or the gun. ~ Emma Goldman, The Failure of Christianity (1913)
Everywhere and always, since its very inception, Christianity has turned the earth into a vale of tears; always it has made of life a weak, diseased thing, always it has instilled fear in man, turning him into a dual being, whose life energies are spent in the struggle between body and soul. In decrying the body as something evil, the flesh as the tempter to everything that is sinful, man has mutilated his being in the vain attempt to keep his soul pure, while his body rotted away from the injuries and tortures inflicted upon it. The Christian religion and morality extols the glory of the Hereafter, and therefore remains indifferent to the horrors of the earth. Indeed, the idea of self-denial and of all that makes for pain and sorrow is its test of human worth, its passport to the entry into heaven. ~ Emma Goldman, The Failure of Christianity (1913)
The Fathers of the Church can well afford to preach the gospel of Christ. It contains nothing dangerous to the regime of authority and wealth; it stands for self-denial and self-abnegation, for penance and regret, and is absolutely inert in the face of every [in]dignity, every outrage imposed upon mankind. ~ Emma Goldman, The Failure of Christianity (1913)
A cult is a religion with no political power. ~ Tom Wolfe
Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. ~ Mark Twain
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. ~ Mark Twain
Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners. ~ Edward Abbey
Every government does as much harm as it can, and as much good as it must. ~ Nicholas Walter
Certainly the worker has nothing to lose by a change from government and capitalism to a condition of no government, of anarchy. ~ Alexander Berkman ("Is anarchy possible?" from ABC of Anarchism 1927)
Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government. ~ Pierre Joseph Proudhon
John Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities? ~ Emma Goldman
If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist, and thinks laws in his own case superfluous. ~ Will Durant
Anarchy...stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraints of government. ~ Emma Goldman
Oh, judge, your damn laws: the good people don't need them and the bad people don't follow them so what good are they? Ammon Hennacy
I am an anarchist not because I believe anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal. ~ Rudolf Rocker
There are self-styled "anarcho-capitalists" (not to be confused with anarchists of any persuasion), who want the state abolished as a regulator of capitalism, and government handed over to capitalists. ~ Donald Rooum in What is Anarchism?,
Sure you can trust the government--just ask an Indian. ~ A bumper sticker
Smile--you're government is watching! ~ A bumper sticker
Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates. ~ Gore Vidal
The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it. ~ Edward Dowling
The people who vote decide nothing. The people who count the vote decide everything. ~ Joseph Stalin
There is only one difference between dictatorship and democracy. In democracy, you vote and then take orders; in dictatorship you don't waste time voting. ~ Charles Bukowski
What good fortune for governments that the people don't think ~ Adolf Hitler
When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick.' ~ Mikhail Bakunin in Statism and Anarchy
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting that vote. ~ frequently attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but it does not appear in his writings.
The problem with political jokes is that they get elected. ~ Unknown
The word politics is derived from the word poly meaning many and ticks meaning blood sucking parasites ~ Adrian Hilton
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~ P.J. O'Rourke
The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is most important of all, the banker of the backer. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
Liberals, who will control the government's guns? ~ Unknown
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~ Emma Goldman
The minimum that most minimalists want leaves in place just the institutions who protect their interests. That's libertarians for you — anarchists who want police protection from their slaves. ~ Kim Stanley Robinson from Green Mars
He always pictured himself a libertarian, which to my way of thinking means "I want the liberty to grow rich and you can have the liberty to starve". It's easy to believe that no one should depend on society for help when you yourself happen not to need such help. ~ Isaac Asimov
Libertarians drive around in limos--anarchists throw bricks through their windsheilds. ~ Unknown
Everybody from gun-crazy militias to anti-immigrant Nazis to fundamentalist, child-raping Chrisitans to gangster rappers to community activists to working famililies who are struggling to put food on the table are all mad at the same thing: your SUV, me, me, me, mision accomplished, bring 'em on, buy more stuff, buy more stuff, fight terror, defend freedom so you can buy more stuff, false illusion of a world is going down mother fucker! ~ Jello Biafra ranting in the Leftover Crack song "Baby-Punchers"
“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!” —Albert Einstein
“Conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. [...] Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.” —Emma Goldman, Patriotism: a menace to liberty
“Patriotism ... for rulers is nothing else than a tool for achieving their power-hungry and money-hungry goals, and for the ruled it means renouncing their human dignity, reason, conscience, and slavish submission to those in power. ... Patriotism is slavery.” —Leo Tolstoy,
“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.” —Bertrand Russell
We cannot acknowledge allegience to any human government... Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind... ~ William Lloyd Garrison
“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” —George Bernard Shaw
“Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country.” —attributed to Bertrand Russell
“The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice — and always has been.” —Mark Twain
“Thinking men and women the world over are beginning to realize that patriotism is too narrow and limited a conception to meet the necessities of our time.” —Emma Goldman
“To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.” —George Santayana
“We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens. We are ready to hang, electrocute, or lynch anyone, who, from economic necessity, will risk his own life in the attempt upon that of some industrial magnate. Yet our hearts swell with pride at the thought that America is becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and that she will eventually plant her iron foot on the necks of all other nations. Such is the logic of patriotism.” —Emma Goldman
"Wars are always fought for old men, by young boys." ~ Anonymous
'All wars are civil wars because all men are brothers.' ~ Francois Fenelon
All wars are wars among thieves who are too cowardly to fight and therefore induce the young manhood of the whole world to do the fighting for them. ~ Emma Goldman
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. ~ Albert Einstein
If soldiers were to begin to think, not one of them would remain in the army. ~ Frederick the Great
Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. [...] All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. ~ Hermann Göring
Against abortion? Have a vasectomy. ~ A bumper sticker
If men could get pregnant, abortion would be legal, moral and federally-funded. ~ A button
Well-behaved women rarely make history. ~ A bumper sticker
Women: their rights, and nothing less; Men: their rights, and nothing more. ~ Susan B. Anthony
Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. ~ Cheris Kramerae
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute. ~ Rebecca West
Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex ~ Valerie Solanas (Ok, I disagree with the last two points, but the rest is nice. BTW, that whole manifesto has some good points, but goes way too far)
If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. ~ Abigail Adams
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. ~ Timothy Leary
Never let your schoolin' interfere with your education. ~ Mark Twain
In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination. ~ Mark Twain
When consciousness rots, ideology oozes out. ~ Raoul Vaneigem
I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy unless it has in some way obstructed inter-state commerce. ~ J. Edgar Hoover
Every generalization is dangerous, especially this one. ~ Mark Twain
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. ~ Mark Twain
Don't steal--the rich hate competition. ~ A bumper sticker
He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. ~ George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. ~ George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four
I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the 'No Fact Zone'. Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term. Stephen Colbert
Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass, is my point. But I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash. Stephen Colbert to George W. Bush regarding approval ratings.
Look at that skinhead beating up that Nazi! ~ A t-shirt, the message being not all skinheads are racist.
