“I know that the Communists are atheistic and godless, but I don't think that that's what's primarily the matter with them. What's primarily the matter with them is that they worship a false god. That's much more dangerous than when people don't believe anything; they may be confused, they may not have a sense of the meaning of life, but they're not dangerous. The fanatic is dangerous. The Communists do have a god, the Dialectic of History, which guarantees everything that they're going to do and guarantees them victory; that's why they're fanatic.”

The Mike Wallace Interview (1958)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Nov. 26, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I know that the Communists are atheistic and godless, but I don't think that that's what's primarily the matter with th…" by Reinhold Niebuhr?

Reinhold Niebuhr65

American protestant theologian 1892–1971

Related quotes

“They're dangerous people, and what's really frightening is that they don't know it, they don't see themselves as dangerous… they see the danger elsewhere. The danger is always elsewhere. How convenient.”

Thom Yorke (1968) English musician, philanthropist and singer-songwriter

source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_7P8Hlxl8&feature=related

“Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously…. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.”

Edwidge Danticat (1969) Novelist, short story writer, memoirist

“I'm an atheist: I don't know what it means to believe in God.”

Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012) Italian neurologist

Source: Interview with Piergiorgio Odifreddi in Incontri con menti straordinarie (TEA, Milano, 2007), ISBN 978-88-502-1523-2.

“Y'know, when I said SEIU and ACORN, these were the brownshirts, people said that's crazy and I hope to God it is. But you tell me what they are if they're not thugs, enforcing the will of the masters in Washington. Be very careful, because the things that I have told you on this program were coming are here. We are in the most dangerous point in our republic, I believe, since the Civil War. We may be in the most dangerous place ever, because our people are different, our people are not as connected to God as we once were.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

2000s, 2009

“The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief. And by dangerous I don't mean thought-provoking. I mean: might get people killed.”

Sarah Vowell The Wordy Shipmates

Source: The Wordy Shipmates

“It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.”

Margaret Thatcher book Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World

Source: Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, p. 104

“"I believe that the Bible is the literal word of God." And I say no, it's not, Dad. "Well, I believe that it is." Well, you know, some people believe they're Napoleon. That's fine. Beliefs are neat. Cherish them, but don't share them like they're the truth.”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

Filling Up the Hump (1993)

“I don't know what God is.
I don't know what death is. But I believe they have between them
some fervent and necessary arrangement.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

"Sometimes", § 1
Red Bird (2008)

“At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary— it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do — what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing.”

Joe the Plumber (1973) American conservative activist and commentator

On same-sex marriages, in "Q & A: 'Joe the Plumber'" interview by Sarah Pulliam, in Christianity Today (May 2009) Web-only article http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/mayweb-only/118-13.0.html.

“[On libraries] What's great about them is that anybody can go into them and find a book and borrow it free of charge and read it. They don't have to steal it from a bookshop… You know when you're young, you're growing up, they're almost sexually exciting places because books are powerhouses of knowledge, and therefore they're kind of slightly dark and dangerous. You see books that kind of make you go 'Oh!”

Stephen Fry (1957) English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist

Room 101 (2001)
2000s

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Reinhold Niebuhr65

Related quotes

Related topics