If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences.

In the post-enlightenment Europe of the 19th century the highest authority was no longer the Church. Instead it was science. Thus was born racial anti-Semitism, based on two disciplines regarded as science in their day - the 'scientific study of race' and the Social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer and Ernst Haeckel.

Jonathan Sacks

I would say, 'I'm alone, but I'm not lonely.' But I was just kidding myself.

Bruce Willis

A proof that experience is of no use, is that the end of one love does not prevent us from beginning another.

Paul Bourget

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

Henry David Thoreau

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.

Mahatma Gandhi

Anybody who thinks that getting a communication from a voter in your district is spam - that guy is pork. Roast pork unless he changes his point of view.

Dick Morris

Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.

Steven Wright

Rude contact with facts chased my visions and dreams quickly away, and in their stead I beheld the horrors, the corruption, the evils and hypocrisy of society, and as I stood among them, a young wife, a great wail of agony went out from my soul.

Victoria Woodhull

Imagination has a great deal to do with winning.

Mike Krzyzewski

I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.

Brian Aldiss

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

Pat Metheny

Should we have stayed at home and thought of here? Where should we be today? Is it right to be watching strangers in a play in this strangest of theatres?

Elisabeth Bishop