“After all, if you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you also have to believe that no one was ever improved by a book (or a play or a movie). You have to believe, in other words, that all art is morally trivial and that, consequently, all education is morally irrelevant. No one, not even a university professor, really believes that.”
New York Times Magazine, March 28, 1971.
1970s
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Irving Kristol35
American columnist, journalist, and writer 1920–2009Related quotes
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
'No,' said Father Brown.
The Dagger with Wings (1926)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1950s, Rediscovering Lost Values (1954)
Penn Jillette (1955) American magician
p. 62 http://books.google.com/books?id=OqwtBujvOmgC&pg=PA62&dq=%22atheists+are+also+morally+obligated%22 <br class="br">2010s, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales (2011)
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
1940s
Source: Said to General Heinz Guderian, 4 August 1941, as quoted Panzer Leader (1952) by Heinz Guderian
Ann M. Martin (1955) American writer of children's literature
Source: Hello, Mallory
William Carlos Williams book The Desert Music and Other Poems
"To a Dog Injured in the Street"
The Desert Music and Other Poems (1954)
Context: The cries of a dying dog
are to be blotted out
as best I can.
René Char
you are a poet who believes
in the power of beauty
to right all wrongs.
I believe it also.
With invention and courage
we shall surpass
the pitiful dumb beasts,
let all men believe it,
as you have taught me also
to believe it.
Steven Spielberg (1946) American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur
The Making of Jurassic Park (Pg. 15)
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer
Source: Singer from the Sea (1999), Chapter 24, “People from the Sea” (p. 382)
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
The Rise of Atheism, ABC News, 30 September 2007, 1 September 2015 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3671172, <br class="br">Alternate version: Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer. <br class="br">2007-11-01 <br class="br">Excerpt from The Portable Atheist <br class="br">USA Today <br class="br">0161-7389 <br class="br">http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2007-11-01-portable-atheist_N.htm <br class="br">Hitchens posed this challenge many times in debate or during lectures, variously phrased, claiming no one had ever been able to pass it, although everyone could easily answer the corollary question: "Could you name a wicked action or a vile statement made by someone, attributable only to their religious faith?" <br class="br"> Christopher Hitchens Moral Challenge to the god fearing religious folks, YouTube, 20 June 2009, 1 September 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqFwree7Kak, <br class="br">2000s, 2007