{"quotes":[{"text":"I just wish this social institution [religion] wasn't based on what appears to me to be a monumental hoax built on an accumulation of customs and myths directed toward proving something that isn't true.","author":"Andy Rooney","tags":["atheism","customs","falsehood","falsehoods","hoax","institutions","myth","myths","religion"],"id":6678,"author_id":"Andy+Rooney"},{"text":"Study, along the lines which the theologies have mapped, will never lead us to discovery of the fundamental facts of our existence. That goal must be attained by means of exact science and can only be achieved by such means. The fact that man, for ages, has superstitiously believed in what he calls a God does not prove at all that his theory has been right. There have been many gods – all makeshifts, born of inability to fathom the deep fundamental truth. There must be something at the bottom of existence, and man, in ignorance, being unable to discover what it is through reason, because his reason has been so imperfect, undeveloped, has used, instead, imagination, and created figments, of one kind or another, which, according to the country he was born in, the suggestions of his environment, satisfied him for the time being. Not one of all the gods of all the various theologies has ever really been proved. We accept no ordinary scientific fact without the final proof; why should we, then, be satisfied in this most mighty of all matters, with a mere theory?Destruction of false theories will not decrease the sum of human happiness in future, any more than it has in the past... The days of miracles have passed. I do not believe, of course, that there was ever any day of actual miracles. I cannot understand that there were ever any miracles at all. My guide must be my reason, and at thought of miracles my reason is rebellious. Personally, I do not believe that Christ laid claim to doing miracles, or asserted that he had miraculous power...Our intelligence is the aggregate intelligence of the cells which make us up. There is no soul, distinct from mind, and what we speak of as the mind is just the aggregate intelligence of cells. It is fallacious to declare that we have souls apart from animal intelligence, apart from brains. It is the brain that keeps us going. There is nothing beyond that.Life goes on endlessly, but no more in human beings than in other animals, or, for that matter, than in vegetables. Life, collectively, must be immortal, human beings, individually, cannot be, as I see it, for they are not the individuals – they are mere aggregates of cells.There is no supernatural. We are continually learning new things. There are powers within us which have not yet been developed and they will develop. We shall learn things of ourselves, which will be full of wonders, but none of them will be beyond the na.","author":"Thomas A. Edison","tags":["destruction","falsehood","gods","immortality","inspirational","makeshift","miracles","naturalism","reason","satisfaction","science","soul","study","superstitious","theology","theory","truth","wonder"],"id":15173,"author_id":"Thomas+A.+Edison"},{"text":"There's something satisfying to proclaiming humility while knowing just how important you truly are.","author":"Michael R. Fletcher","tags":["falsehood","humility","importance","status","wichtig-is-the-guy"],"id":16094,"author_id":"Michael+R.+Fletcher"},{"text":"To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.","author":"Aristophanes","tags":["elections","falsehood","government","hypocrisy","politics","popularity","promises"],"id":27400,"author_id":"Aristophanes"},{"text":"It's okay to be honest about not knowing rather than spreading falsehood. While it is often said that honesty is the best policy, silence is the second best policy.","author":"Criss Jami","tags":["certainty","deceit","falsehood","gossip","honesty","humility","information","know-it-alls","law","libel","lies","misinformation","moral","mystery","not-knowing","policy","principle","propaganda","rule","silence","sincerity","slander","truth","uncertainty","uncertainty-principle"],"id":34086,"author_id":"Criss+Jami"},{"text":"[His research into biblical criticism had lead him to the conclusion that most of what was contained in traditional religion simply wasn't true]Was I to lie in order to teach the truth? ...Was I to repeat these words? It was impossible. It was certain they would stick in my throat. On these grounds the separation was decided by me.","author":"Felix Adler","tags":["autobiography","criticism","falsehood","lie","rabbi","truth"],"id":37150,"author_id":"Felix+Adler"},{"text":"There is not a single untruth, no -but after ten lines Truth shrieks, she runs distraught and disheveled through her temple's corridors; she does not know herself. 'I can endure lies,' she cries. 'I cannot survive this stifling verisimilitude.","author":"Thornton Wilder","tags":["falsehood","lies","truth"],"id":38826,"author_id":"Thornton+Wilder"},{"text":"The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.","author":"Georg Christoph Lichtenberg","tags":["distortion","falsehood","lies","truth"],"id":40656,"author_id":"Georg+Christoph+Lichtenberg"},{"text":"As individuals die every moment, how insensitive and fabricated a love it is to set aside a day from selfish routine in prideful, patriotic commemoration of tragedy. Just as God is provoked by those who tithe simply because they feel that they must tithe, I am provoked by those who commemorate simply because they feel that they must commemorate.","author":"Criss Jami","tags":["bandwagon","commemorate","commemoration","culture","day","death","fabrication","falsehood","god","holiday","honest","individual","insensitivity","insincere","love","lovelessness","memorial","memorial-day","memories","memory","nationalism","patriot","patriotic","patriotism","pop","pop-culture","popular","popular-culture","pride","routine","selfishness","society","tithe","tragedy","universal","vanity"],"id":41297,"author_id":"Criss+Jami"},{"text":"The study of Scripture I find to be quite like mastering an instrument. No one is so good that they cannot get any better; no one knows so much that they can know no more. A professional can spot an amateur or a lack of practice or experience a mile away. His technicality, his spiritual ear is razor-sharp. He is familiar with the common mistakes, the counter-arguments; and insofar as this, he can clearly distinguish the difference between honest critics of the Faith and mere fools who criticize that which they know nothing.","author":"Criss Jami","tags":["agnosticism","amateur","antitheistic","apologetics","application","argumentation","atheism","bible","counter-argument","criticism","deceit","development","dialect","discernment","fallacies","false-preaching","false-prophet","false-teaching","falsehood","figurative","foolish","immaturity","improvement","instrument","judgment","knowledge","language","learning","lies","lingo","logic","logical-fallacies","mastering","mastering-oneself","mastering-the-mind","maturity","metaphor","mind","music","philosophy","practice","preacher","professional","prophet","religion","scripture","simile","studying","teacher","theism","theology","truth","wisdom"],"id":45066,"author_id":"Criss+Jami"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":131,"pages":14,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}