“From the fame opinion of a soul distinct from the body came the practice of praying, first for the dead, and then to them with a long train of other absurd opinions, and superstitious practices.”

General Conclusions, Part I : Containing Considerations addressed to Unbelievers and especially to Mr. Gibbon
An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

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 "From the fame opinion of a soul distinct from the body came the practice of praying, first for the dead, and then to th…" by Joseph Priestley?
Joseph Priestley photo
Joseph Priestley 47
English theologian, chemist, educator, and political theori… 1733–1804

Related quotes

Thomas Carlyle photo

“Europe has made much; great cities, great empires, encyclopaedias, creeds, bodies of opinion and practice: but it has made little of the class of Dante's Thought.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Poet

“Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

Abraham Lincoln photo

“Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Source: Speech at a Republican Banquet, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:413?rgn=div1;view=fulltext; see Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 2 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), p. 532

Peter Barlow (mathematician) photo

“Opinions derived from long experience are exceedingly valuable, and outweigh all others, while they are consistent with facts and with each other; but they are worse than useless when they lead, as in this instance, to directly opposite opinions.”

Peter Barlow (mathematician) (1776–1862) British mathematician and physicist

[Peter Barlow, Second report addressed to the directors and proprietors of the London and Birmingham Railway company, founded on an inspection of, and experiments made on the Liverpool and Manchester railway, B. Fellowes, 1835, 4]

Alan Keyes photo

“The First Amendment isn't about free thought and free opinion and free belief. The First Amendment is about free exercise--the carrying into practice of religious principles, and beliefs, and convictions.”

Alan Keyes (1950) American politician

Alabama Republican Assemblies Luncheon, April 29, 2000. http://renewamerica.us/archives/speeches/00_04_29alral.htm.
2000

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach photo

“Like body and soul theory and practice are one, and like body and soul they are for the most part at loggerheads.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Theorie und Praxis sind Eins wie Seele und Leib, und wie Seele und Leib liegen sie großenteils mit einander in Streit.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 59.

Bill Hybels photo

“The key is to practice praying - and to practice praying regularly, privately, sincerely and specifically.”

Bill Hybels (1951) American writer

Too Busy Not to Pray (2008, InterVarsity Press)

Peter Barlow (mathematician) photo

“Opinions derived from long experience are exceedingly valuable”

Peter Barlow (mathematician) (1776–1862) British mathematician and physicist

Context: Opinions derived from long experience are exceedingly valuable, and outweigh all others, while they are consistent with facts and with each other; but they are worse than useless when they lead, as in this instance, to directly opposite opinions.

Robert A. Heinlein photo

Related topics