“Marx was wrong--religion is not the opiate of the masses, baseball is.”
Quoted without citation by Nathaniel J. Ehrlich, Psychology and contemporary affairs, p. 78 (1972)
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Madalyn Murray O'Hair9
Atheist activist 1919–1995Related quotes
“"Religion is the opiate of the masses.""I did masses of opiates religiously.”
Carrie Fisher book Postcards from the Edge
Source: Postcards from the Edge
Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist
Source: Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995: An Exhibition Catalogue
“In America, it is sport that is the opiate of the masses.”
Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States
"The Muscular Opiate," The New York Times (1967-10-03)
Thomas Mann book Deutsche Ansprache
On German fascism, in "An Appeal to Reason" ["Deutsche Ansprache. Ein Appell an die Vernunft"] in Berliner Tageblatt (18 October 1930); as translated by Helen T. Lowe-Porter in Order of the Day, Political Essays and Speeches of Two Decades (1942), p. 57
Context: This fantastic state of mind, of a humanity that has outrun its ideas, is matched by a political scene in the grotesque style, with Salvation Army methods, hallelujahs and bell-ringing and dervishlike repetition of monotonous catchwords, until everybody foams at the mouth. Fanaticism turns into a means of salvation, enthusiasm into epileptic ecstasy, politics becomes an opiate for the masses, a proletarian eschatology; and reason veils her face.
“If religion was the opium of the masses, then communism was the methamphetamine of the masses.”
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Biblical Series III: God and the Hierarchy of Authority https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_GPAl_q2QQ <br class="br">Biblical Lectures
Kim Jong-il (1941–2011) General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
"Let us advance under the banner of Marxism-Leninism and the Juche Idea" http://www.korea-dpr.com/lib/Kim%20Jong%20Il%20-%204/LET%20US%20ADVANCE%20UNDER%20THE%20BANNER%20OF%20MARXISM.pdf (3 May 1983)
“Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.”
Tom Robbins Skinny Legs and All
Skinny Legs and All (1990)