“Nothing is sacred to you, Mr. Munro. You base your beliefs on the products of human thought, so it could hardly be otherwise. You might believe in certain things, but you do not have faith. That comes with submission to the force of divine revelation.”
“So, because I don’t have what I think of as superstitions, because I believe we just happen to exist, and believe in... science, evolution, whatever; I’m not as... worthy as somebody who has faith in an ancient book and a cruel, desert God?”
Source: Short fiction, The State of the Art (1991) “Piece” (p. 73)
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Iain Banks139
Scottish writer 1954–2013Related quotes
Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib (1948) Bangladeshi academic
A speech in Engineers institution auditorium, Dhaka, 2010, (English Translation).[citation needed]
From Speeches
Eliezer Yudkowsky (1979) American blogger, writer, and artificial intelligence researcher
Twelve Virtues Of Rationality http://yudkowsky.net/rational/virtues <br class="br">Context: Do not flinch from experiences that might destroy your beliefs. The thought you cannot think controls you more than thoughts you speak aloud. Submit yourself to ordeals and test yourself in fire. Relinquish the emotion which rests upon a mistaken belief, and seek to feel fully that emotion which fits the facts. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm. Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions. Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer
"Feminism: An Agenda" (1983)
Letters from a War Zone: Writings 1976-1987
Harriet Beecher Stowe book Uncle Tom's Cabin
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Ch. 1.
Context: "Now, I've been laughed at for my notions, sir, and I've been talked to. They an't pop'lar, and they an't common; but I stuck to 'em, sir; I've stuck to 'em, and realized well on 'em; yes, sir, they have paid their passage, I may say," and the trader laughed at his joke.
There was something so piquant and original in these elucidations of humanity, that Mr. Shelby could not help laughing in company. Perhaps you laugh too, dear reader; but you know humanity comes out in a variety of strange forms now-a-days, and there is no end to the odd things that humane people will say and do.
Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents
Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 20 (p. 382)
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
"Sunday Morning".
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Tina Connolly American writer
Source: Ironskin (2012), Chapter 13, “The Last Ray of Sunlight” (p. 222)