1790s, Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)
Context: The atheist who affects to reason, and the fanatic who rejects reason, plunge themselves alike into inextricable difficulties. The one perverts the sublime and enlightening study of natural philosophy into a deformity of absurdities by not reasoning to the end. The other loses himself in the obscurity of metaphysical theories, and dishonours the Creator, by treating the study of his works with contempt. The one is a half-rational of whom there is some hope, the other a visionary to whom we must be charitable.
“The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.”
Section 62
The True Believer (1951), Part Three: United Action and Self-Sacrifice
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Eric Hoffer 240
American philosopher 1898–1983Related quotes
“Don't condemn people who need it. Be very careful when that need becomes fanatical.”
"Conversations in Port Townsend", interview with Tim O'Reilly, 1983. Reprinted in The Maker of Dune: Insights of a Master of Science Fiction (1987), edited by Tim O'Reilly
General sources
Context: What I'm saying in my books boils down to this: Mine religion for what is good and avoid what is deleterious. Don't condemn people who need it. Be very careful when that need becomes fanatical.
“You wouldn’t like him. Major fanatic. Confuses migraine headaches with God.”
Source: Only Begotten Daughter (1990), Chapter 4 (p. 84)
“To err is human, whether we are religious, atheist, or agnostic.”
The Transhumanism Handbook, 2019
“To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.”
Stardust Memories (1980).
As quoted in A History of National Socialism, Konrad Heiden, A. A. Knopf (1935) p. 100
Other remarks
Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI to the Bishops Priests and Deacons Men and Women Religious and All the Lay Faithful On Christian Hope, 30 November 2007
2007