Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.

I appear as a skeptic, who believes that doubt is the great engine, the great fuel of all inquiry, all discovery and all innovation.

Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are God.

Knowing that we are primates, I think, is a fascinating discovery, and a very interesting and rather cheering one.

Religion attacks us in our deepest integrity by saying we wouldn't be able to make a moral decision without it.

In order to be a part of the totalitarian mind-set, it is not necessary to wear a uniform or carry a club or a whip. It is only necessary to wish for your own subjection, and to delight in the subjection of others.