“I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.”
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
1770s, Common Sense (1776)
“By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none.”
The quote "By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none." is famous quote attributed to Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), British comic actor and filmmaker.
This phrase seems to have been first mentioned in Manual of a Perfect Atheist by Mexican writer Eduardo Garcia Del Rio, in 1989, without indicating any original source, which does make this quote unreliable. The quote has been widely circulated by atheists to try to prove that Chaplin was also one of them. However, taking into account what Chaplin himself wrote in his autobiography, when he was 75 years old, and what his family members wrote about him, calling Chaplin an atheist seems untenable. (http://www.adherents.com/people/pc/Charlie_Chaplin.html) According to his son, Charles Chaplin, Jr., in his book "My Father, Charlie Chaplin", pages 239-240, Chaplin was not an atheist; he quotes him saying: "I'm not an atheist"… "I can remember him saying on more than one occasion. 'I'm definitely an agnostic. Some scientists say that if the world were to stop revolving we'd all disintegrate. But the world keeps on going. Something must be holding us all in place — some Supreme Force. But what it is I couldn't tell you.". See also pages 210-211 of the book.
Disputed
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Charlie Chaplin75
British comic actor and filmmaker 1889–1977Related quotes
“I don't profess to be profound; but I do lay claim to common sense.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
“Common sense is no match for the voice of God.”
Jon Krakauer (1954) American outdoors writer and journalist
Source: Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
“I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose.”
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union
Speech in Toronto (1930); as quoted in "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996) by James A. Haught
As quoted in Jesus: Myth Or Reality? (2006) by Ian Curtis
Religion is the belief in future life and in God. I don't believe in either.
As quoted in The New York Times (19 April 1936)
Variant: I believe that religion is the belief in future life and in God. I don’t believe in either. I don’t believe in God as I don’t believe in Mother Goose.
Michael Crichton book State of Fear
State of Fear (2004)
Context: I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely emerges in another form. Even if you don't believe in God, you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author
Source: The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
“People don't like reality, they don't like common sense, until age forces it on them.”
Graham Greene book The Ministry of Fear
The Ministry of Fear (1943)
Lawrence Lessig book Free Culture
Introduction
Free Culture (2004)
Context: I believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme claims made today on behalf of "intellectual property." What the law demands today is increasingly as silly as a sheriff arresting an airplane for trespass. But the consequences of this silliness will be much more profound.
“We probably seem to be anti-religious…none of us believes in God.”
Paul McCartney (1942) English singer-songwriter and composer
Hit Parader (January 1970)