“Because I was so eager to believe I was being helped by a talented, ethical, benevolent, and intelligent man, I sought evidence for this wherever I could. Anything less than this was too dreadful to contemplate.”

“The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there's any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

“I hated him more than anything. I loved him more than anything. Because, he was everything. And I hated that, too.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

“I felt the first man I slept with must be intelligent, so I could respect him.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

“The first time I saw a picture of Elvis - I was in a state of shock, because I couldn't believe that a human being could be so beautiful.”

Gottfried Helnwein (1948) Austrian photographer and painter

“No one could have less faith in the absolute and definitive importance of the work created by man, because I believe that this world is nothing but a dream…”

Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) French painter

“I firmly believe that the benevolent Creator designed the republican Form of Government for Man.”

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher

“I loved you so much once. I did. More than anything in the whole wide world. Imagine that. What a laugh that is now. Can you believe it? We were so intimate once upon a time I can't believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can't imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven't been.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

“You I admire as being more, — much more — a man, and more believer too, than half the canting orthodox.”

Morris West (1916–1999) Australian writer

“If there’s anything I hate more than not being taken seriously, it’s being taken too seriously.”

Billy Wilder (1906–2002) American filmmaker