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God

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“He named the names of gods. He named the names of kings—the secret names, the names they had worn as princes, before they became the newest Harinamur. He called upon all the forces of the universe to free himself from— Me.”
Robert Silverberg (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She hath wasted with fire thine high places, She hath hidden and marred and made sad The fair limbs of the Loves, the fair faces Of gods that were goodly and glad. She slays, and her hands are not bloody; She moves as a moon in the wane, White-robed, and thy raiment is ruddy, Our Lady of Pain.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dream that the lips once breathless Might quicken if they would; Say that the soul is deathless; Dream that the gods are good; Say March may wed September, And time divorce regret; But not that you remember, And not that I forget.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be That no man lives forever, That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a physical way we’re closer than any civilian pair could be, since in full combat jack we are this one creature with twenty arms and legs, with ten brains, with five vaginas and five penises. Some people call the feeling godlike, and I think there have been gods who were constructed along similar lines. The one I grew up with was an old white-bearded Caucasian gent without even one vagina.”
Joe Haldeman (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyone who actually admires money as the most precious thing in life, and rests his security on it to the extent of believing that as long as he possesses it he will be happy, has fashioned too many false gods for himself. Too many people put money in the place of Christ, as if it alone has the key to their happiness or unhappiness. p. 100”
Erasmus (1466–1536) said by 1536 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seated in a dark theater, I reached out my hand for that of my wife’s. She and I had visited the same beach and discussed visiting it with our children and grandchildren. An icy finger ran slowly down our spines. Such a connection can be terrifying. What does it mean? We are the playthings of the gods.”
Roger Ebert (1942–2013) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of The Impossible (19 December 2012)
“This is a plot, if ever there was one, to illustrate King Lear's complaint, "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport." I am aware this is the second time in two weeks I have been compelled to quote Lear, but there are times when Eminem simply will not do.”
Roger Ebert (1942–2013) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of The Life of David Gale (21 February 2003)
“'The most common of all follies,' wrote H. L. Mencken, 'is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.' In culture after culture, people believe that the soul lives on after death, that rituals can change the physical world and divine the truth, and that illness and misfortune are caused and alleviated by spirits, ghosts, saints . . . and gods.”
Steven Pinker (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I take my title from the name the Jews have traditionally given the Roman Empire. You may expect to meet all manner of wickedness in what follows - pork-eating, lechery, adultery, bigamy, sodomy, bestiality, the most ingenious varieties of cruelty, assassination, the worship of false gods and the sin of being uncircumcised.”
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By thee do seers the inward light discern; By thee the statue lives, the Gods return.”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I worship impersonal Nature, which is neither "good" or "bad", and who knows neither love nor hatred. I worship Life; the Sun, Sustainer of life. I believe in the Law of everlasting struggle, which is the law of life, and in the duty of the best specimens of our race — the natural élite of mankind — to rule the earth, and evolve out of themselves a caste of supermen, a people 'like unto the Gods'.”
Savitri Devi (1905–1982) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pilgrimage (Calcutta: Savitri Devi Mukherji, 1958, p. 327, http://www.savitridevi.org/pilgrimage-09.html)
“If from infancy you treat children as gods they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.”
P. D. James (1920–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never will a free man bow to the gods of Christianity; never will its dogmas, never will its rites, never its mysteries, never its morals be suitable for a republican.”
Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) said by 1814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Number is the ruler of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and daemons.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Life of Pythagoras (c. 300) by Iamblichus of Chalcis, as translated by Thomas Taylor (1818)
“There are men and gods, and beings like Pythagoras.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of himself, as quoted in A History of Western Philosophy (1945) by Bertrand Russell
“Disbelieve nothing wonderful concerning the gods, nor concerning divine dogmas.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Govern your tongue before all other things, following the gods.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Work at these things, practice them, these are the things you ought to desire; they are what will put you on the path of divine virtue — yes, by the one who entrusted our soul with the tetraktys, source of ever-flowing nature. Pray to the gods for success and get to work.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Divine Harmony: The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook. (1999)
“Meditate upon my counsels; love them; follow them; To the divine virtues will they know how to lead thee. I swear it by the One who in our hearts engraved The sacred Tetrad, symbol immense and pure, Source of Nature and model of the Gods.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Holding fast to these things, you will know the worlds of gods and mortals which permeates and governs everything. And you will know, as is right, nature similar in all respects, so that you will neither entertain unreasonable hopes nor be neglectful of anything.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Divine Harmony: The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook. (1999)
“Despise all those things which when liberated from the body you will not want; invoke the Gods to become your helpers.”
Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
“The universe is a womb for the genesis of gods.”
David Zindell (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.”
Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are ...but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are …[but] unless you realize the Self (atman), there is no freedom.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heed the lesson there, son.” “What lesson?” “Every decision you make can change the world. The best life is the one the gods don’t notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly.” “I want to be a soldier. A hero.” “You’ll grow out of it.”
Steven Erikson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As with most unwitting servants of the gods, once the game was done so was the servant’s life.”
Steven Erikson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do mortal fools still measure the increments leading to their deaths, wagering pleasures against costs, persisting in the delusion that deeds have value, that the world and all the gods sit in judgment over every decision made or not made?”
Steven Erikson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'It is the legacy of most intelligent beings to revel in slaughter for a time,' Haut replied. 'In this we play at being gods. In this, we lie to ourselves with delusions of omnipotence. There is but one measure to the wisdom of a people, and that is the staying hand. Fail in restraint and murder thrives in your eyes, and all your claims to civilization ring hollow.”
Steven Erikson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Comrades, I've voyaged long and far on sea and soul, my eyes have seen disease, gods, ghosts, and men, and yet in no land have I seen a more false, murderous siren than that wind-headed, babbling, blind bitch-hound called Hope!”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've fought with men and gods, I've weighed them well and found the sea more firm than earth, the air more firm than sea, and man's impalpable soul still yet more firm than air!”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In religions which have lost their creative spark, the gods eventually become no more than poetic motifs or ornaments for decorating human solitude and walls.”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you could meet your grandkids as elderly citizens in the year 2100 … you would view them as being, basically, Greek gods… that's where we're headed.”
Michio Kaku (born 1947) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Captain Michio and the World of Tomorrow" in The Wall Street Journal (9 March 2012)
“When I was trying to serve multiple gods it drove me crazy. That's like the greatest chef in the world trying to make a seven-course meal and serve it at eight different houses.”
Kanye West (born 1977) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 25 October 2019 article from The Christian Post citing an earlier Utah Sunday Service
“Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make bored.”
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods have many faces.”
Subhash Kak (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Europe has resurrected its pagan gods.”
Subhash Kak (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I talk about the gods; I am an atheist. But I am an artist too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Legends of prediction are common throughout the whole Household of Man. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak. Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before the gods and after, always, are the streams. Caves, stones, hills. Trees. The earth. The darkness of the earth.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We say to American industry, if you can afford to pay pension plans to people who don't need them, then by the eternal gods you are going to have to pay them to people who do need them.”
Walter Reuther (1907–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Opening address of the twelfth constitutional convention of the UAW, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 10, 1949, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 41
“We sail across dominions barely seen, washed by the swells of time. We plow through fields of magnetism. Past and future come together on thunderheads and our dead hearts live with lightning in the wounds of the Gods.”
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ancient Evenings (1983) Last lines
“I never saw love as luck, as that gift from the gods which put everything else in place, and allowed you to succeed. No, I saw love as reward. One could find it only after one's virtue, or one's courage, or self-sacrifice, or generosity, or loss, has succeeded in stirring the power of creation.”
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Hubbard, in Harlot's Ghost : A Novel (1991)
“Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision. The more a man can achieve, the more he may be certain that the devil will inhabit a part of his creation.”
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bergson said that the universe is "a machine to make gods". Teilhard would not take up the expression as his own: in his eyes, the universe is merely a machine to make persons.”
Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Contribution of Teilhard to the Knowledge of God" (1969), p. 544
“Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first commandment of the true French patriot is: "Thou shalt have no other gods but France." It is a type or quality of patriotism which springs more naturally from the soil of France than that of any other land. Are Englishmen also not patriots? Yes, they are, but with them patriotism is a duty, with Frenchmen it is a fanaticism.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1200 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume II, pp. 1200-1201
“This is a sworn treaty made between us, Hannibal … and Xenophanes the Athenian ... in the presence of all the gods who possess Macedonia and the rest of Greece.”
Polybius (200–120 BC) said by 120 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9.4 (tr. W. R. Paton, 1923)
“I began to see why woman-haters could make such fools of women. Woman-haters were like gods: invulnerable and chock-full of power. They descended, and then they disappeared. You could never catch one.”
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source