User:Ashnard/sandbox

"In the consciousness of the truth he has perceived, man now sees everywhere only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence and loathing seizes him." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!" ~Friedrich Nietzsche

"To find everything profound - that is an inconvenient trait. It makes one strain one's eyes all the time, and in the end one finds more than one might have wished." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." ~ Bertrand Russell

"Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness." ~ Bertrand Russell

"When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others." ~ Bertrand Russell

"There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." ~ Bertrand Russell

"If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way." ~ Bertrand Russell

"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." ~ Bertrand Russell

"The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately." ~ Bertrand Russell

"Whereas in art nothing worth doing can be done without genius, in science even a very moderate capacity can contribute to a supreme achievement." ~ Bertrand Russell

"Hell is other people" ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

"Religion is considered by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful" ~ Seneca

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence" ~ Christopher Hitchens

"The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species. It may be a long farewell, but it has begun and, like all farewells, should not be protracted." ~ Christopher Hitchens

"Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it" ~ Christopher Hitchens

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?" ~ Joseph Stalin

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic". -- commonly misattributed to Stalin

"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed" ~ Joseph Stalin

"In the Soviet Army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance." ~ Joseph Stalin

"It is true that liberty is precious — so precious that it must be rationed." ~ Vladimir Lenin

""As for us, we were never concerned with the Kantian-priestly and vegetarian-Quaker prattle about the "sacredness of human life."" ~Leon Trotsky

"An ally has to be watched just like an enemy." ~ Leon Trotsky

"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it." ~ Malcolm X

"Any time you see someone more successful than you are, they are doing something you aren't." ~ Malcolm X

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him." ~ Martin Luther King

"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest" ~ Denis Diderot

"I give money for church organs in the hope the organ music will distract the congregation's attention from the rest of the service." ~ Andrew Carnegie

"Pray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy." ~ Ambrose Bierce

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." H.L. Menken

"Men never commit evil so fully and joyfuly as when they do it for religious convictions" ~ Blaise Pascal

"And as we pass the collection plate, please give as if the person next to you was watching." ~ Reverand Lovejoy (The Simpsons)

"A witty saying proves nothing." ~ Voltaire

"Anything too stupid to be said is sung." ~ Voltaire

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." ~ Voltaire

"He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, that he really is dead". ~ Voltaire

"The plural of anecdote is not data" ~ Roger Brinner

"He always pictured himself a libertarian, which to my way of thinking means "I want the liberty to grow rich and you can have the liberty to starve". It's easy to believe that no one should depend on society for help when you yourself happen not to need such help" ~ Isaac Asimov

"I am hard put to find something to say to people who still think libertarianism has something to do with liberty. A libertarian is just a Republican who takes drugs." ~ Bob Black

"One of the more pretentious political self-descriptions is "Libertarian." People think it puts them above the fray. It sounds fashionable, and to the uninitiated, faintly dangerous. Actually, it's just one more bullshit political philosophy." ~ George Carlin

"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death." ~ George Carlin

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~ George Carlin

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ~ Plato

"Empty vessels make the loudest noise" ~ Plato

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

"Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" ~ Theodosius Dobzhansky

"Whenever I hear people talking about "liberal ideas," I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions." ~ Goethe

"There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery" ~ Dante

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle