“God, is this all it is, the ricocheting down the corridor of laughter and tears? Of self-worship and self-loathing? Of glory and disgust?”

“What theology that would have been, a god self-worshipping, a drug addicted to itself.”

China Miéville Embassytown

“Why does shame and self-loathing become cruelty to the innocent?”

Anne Rice book Merrick

“As it saw in the Self all Godly attributes, it saw in Gods the truth and powers of the Self; indeed, it taught that one who worships a God as other than himself becomes his sacrificial animal, his draught-animal. He is driven and ridden by him.”

Ram Swarup (1920–1998) Indian historian

“The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved — cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell. I want no part in any heaven in which the saved, the ransomed and redeemed will drown with shouts of joy the cries and sobs of hell — in which happiness will forget misery, where the tears of the lost only increase laughter and double bliss.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

“Finally, and beyond all else, ravished out of self into the Glory of God, without limit, incomprehensible, immense, we are to enjoy Him for ever and ever”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

“God is self-evident, impersonal, omniscient, the Knower and the Master of nature, the Lord of all. He is behind all worship and it is being done according to Him, whether we know it or not.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

“Europe’s elites are characterised by cultural self-loathing, combined with a heavy dose of cowardice.”

Peter Whittle (politician) (1961) British author, politician, and journalist

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

“Self-seeking, self-glory, that is not me. No. Many people say I embarrass them with my humility.”

Peter Akinola (1944) Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria