“Do those people who hold up the Bible as an inspiration to
moral rectitude have the slightest notion of what is actually written
in it?”

“The most dangerous diminutions of freedom come from those who are convinced of their moral rectitude.”

“For the only reason (I came to think) for God to inspire the Bible would be so that his people would have his actual words; but if he really wanted to have his actual words, surely he would have miraculously preserved those words, just as he had miraculously inspired them in the first place.”

“There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us.”

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”

“[bible_banging]But what we've got going wrong is we've got a kind of bifurcation [in cultural development]:
You take your classified telephone directory, and open up "Churches", and have a ruler in your hand. And you will find that the longest space is occupied by authoritarian, Bible-banging churches. And these people are barbarians, who take the written word of the Bible literally. Because they need terribly, they have a personal need, for something to depend on. … The government realizes that there is a very large number of people like that; and therefore, to keep their votes, they have to pander to those kind of people. And these are the boys who never grew up; they always need Papa. … The trouble is that the boys who need Papa, are violent. They have the guns. And they are the types of people who like to be soldiers, policemen — tough guys. And therefore they have a great deal of power.”

“Those who love life do not read. Nor do they go to the movies, actually. No matter what might be said, access to the artistic universe is more or less entirely the preserve of those who are a little fed up with the world.”

“The people who must never have power are the humorless. To impossible certainties of rectitude they ally tedium and uniformity.”

“What moral obligation do you have to those who willfully refuse to open their eyes and deem you mad for seeing?”

“Stories of perfect people who have never failed don't inspire me, in fact, those stories make me bored and sleepy. I'm fascinated and addicted to stories of people who have failed and risen to become the world's best, those are the real heroes. Failing doesn't define you, how you bounce back up is what makes you”