The problem is that religion tends to give people bad reasons to be good.

The problem with religion, because it's been sheltered from criticism, is that it allows people to believe en masse what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.

Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn't care to, or he doesn't exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.

A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings.

We have a choice. We have two options as human beings. We have a choice between conversation and war. That's it. Conversation and violence. And faith is a conversation stopper.

How we pay attention to the present moment...determin es the character of our experience and...the quality of our lives.

You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.

How can we be “free” as conscious agents if everything that we consciously intend is caused by events in our brain that we do not intend and of which we are entirely unaware? We can’t.

You don't get anything worth getting, by pretending to know things you don't know.

Jesus Christ—who, as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death, and rose bodily into the heavens—can now be eaten in the form of a cracker

The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you.

If you love me, Henry, you don’t love me in a way I understand.

From him [Death] alone of all the powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.

Sloth, if it has prevented many crimes, has also smothered many virtues.

Nothing is more powerful than the human spirit.

I have seriously thought about retiring, but that was on a good day. On a bad day I've thought about killing myself.

I must have my share in the conversation.

Good taste is synonymous with success in all fields of life. It's not a question of money, but of a trained eye.

If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience Yoga.

For I have had too much Of apple-picking:I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired.

The soul aspiring pants its source to mount,As streams meander level with their fount.