“We have convictions only if we have studied nothing thoroughly.”
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
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Emil M. Cioran531
Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995Related quotes
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) American evangelist and publisher
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 40. (from "How to Study the Bible").
Alexis De Tocqueville (1805–1859) French political thinker and historian
Letter to Arthur de Gobineau, 22 October 1843, Tocqueville Reader, p. 229 http://books.google.com/books?id=JhEVK0UMgFMC&pg=PA229&vq=studied+the+koran&dq=%22few+religions+in+the+world+as+deadly+to+men+as+that+of+Muhammad%22+-tocqueville&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0<br>Original text: J’ai beaucoup étudié le Koran à cause surtout de notre position vis-à-vis des populations musulmanes en Algérie et dans tout l’Orient. Je vous avoue que je suis sorti de cette étude avec la conviction qu’il y avait eu dans le monde, à tout prendre, peu de religions aussi funestes aux hommes que celle de Mahomet. [...] Elle est, à mon sens, la principale cause de la décadence aujourd’hui si visible du monde musulman, et quoique moins absurde que le polythéisme antique, ses tendances sociales et politiques étant, à mon avis, infiniment plus à redouter, je la regarde relativement au paganisme lui-même comme une décadence plutôt que comme un progrès (Wikisource) <br class="br">1840s <br class="br">Context: I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.
Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953–2001) Afghan military leader
Meeting with European legislators http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2000/june/jun23i2000.html (11 June 2000).
Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic
Französische Bühne (The French Stage), ch. 9 (1837)
Original: (de) Die Menschen in jener alten Zeit hatten Überzeugungen, wir Neueren haben nur Meinungen, und es gehört etwas mehr als eine bloße Meinung dazu, um so einen gotischen Dom aufzurichten.
Maxime Bernier (1963) Canadian politician
23 August 2018 http://www.maximebernier.com/why_i_am_leaving_the_conservative_party_of_canada <br class="br">2018
Nigel Farage (1964) British politician and former commodity broker
No-deal Brexit 'no problem', Nigel Farage says at Leave Means Leave rally https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45614468 BBC News (22 September 2018) <br class="br">2018
Edward Bond (1934) English writer best known as a dramatist
Source: Programme note for We Come to the River (1976); cited from Lear (London: Methuen, 1983) p. xii.
“We come from nothing, we are going back to nothing-In the end what have we lost? Nothing!”
Graham Chapman (1941–1989) English comedian, writer and actor