“When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.”

This is attributed to Pirsig by Richard Dawkins in the Preface to The God Delusion (2006), p. 28, but cannot be found prior to that. It is obviously a paraphrase of the following from Pirsig's Lila - An Inquiry Into Morals (1991): „An insane delusion can't be held by a group at all. A person isn't considered insane if there are a number of people who believe the same way. Insanity isn't supposed to be a communicable disease. If one other person starts to believe him, or maybe two or three, then it's a religion." ( books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=51i6WkGn6qYC&q=%22An+insane+delusion%22; books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=WZtRAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA426)
Disputed
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel…" by Robert M. Pirsig?
Robert M. Pirsig photo
Robert M. Pirsig 164
American writer and philosopher 1928–2017

Related quotes

Lionel Shriver photo

“I was suffering from the delusion that it's the thought that counts.”

Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Alasdair Gray photo
Daniel Dennett photo
Swami Vivekananda photo

“This is no world. It is God Himself. In delusion we call it world.”

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

Pearls of Wisdom

Terry Pratchett photo
Ambrose Bierce photo

“All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Source: Epigrams, p. 369
Source: The Collected Writings Of Ambrose Bierce

Michael Ende photo

“There are many kinds of delusion.”

Source: The Neverending Story

George Bernard Shaw photo

Related topics