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“When the gods would punish us, they answer our prayers.”
Matthew Stover (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Historically-upper castes have suppressed the lower-caste masses with weapons, as the Hindu gods’ origin itself is rooted in the culture of weapon usage. The SC/ST/OBCs will then have to turn to a war of weapons in the process of elimination of Hindu violence from India.”
Kancha Ilaiah (born 1952) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Post-Hindu India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2009. quoted from Malhotra, R., Nīlakantan, A. (2011). Breaking India: Western interventions in Dravidian and Dalit faultlines
“To hate excellence is to hate the gods.”
Mary Renault (1905–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are as gods and might as well get good at it.”
Stewart Brand (born 1938) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Opening sentence of the Purpose of the 1968 Whole Earth Catalog.
“May the Gods, if they did not die of boredom, never give you one of those flat kingdoms to govern; may lead you through mountain paths; may they give you for a companion a good Andalusian mule with eyes like wells, a brow like an anvil, and who stops dead in his tracks because he sees the shadow his ears make on the road in front of him.”
Émile Chartier (1868–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whoso loves beauty is unable for that very reason to love deformity. One may not believe in our gods, but it is possible to love them...”
Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sign work of the Orient it runneth up and down; The Talmud stalks from right to left, a rabbi in a gown;The Roman rolls from left to right from Maytime unto May; But the gods shake up their symbols in an absent-minded way.Their language runs to circles like the language of the eyes, Emphasised by strange dilations with little panting sighs.”
Nathalia Crane (1913–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The very serpents bite their tails; the bees forget to sting, For a language so celestial setteth up a wondering.And the touch of absent mindedness is more than any line, Since direction counts for nothing when the gods set up a sign.”
Nathalia Crane (1913–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods released a vision on a world forespent and dull; They sent it as a challenge by the sea hawk and the gull.It roused the Norman eagerness, the Albion cliffs turned red: "You fly the wings of logic — can you fly the wings of lead?”
Nathalia Crane (1913–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Written in red their protest stands, For the Gods of the World to see; On the dooming wall their bodiless hands have blazoned "Upharsin," and flaring brands Illumine the message: "Seize the lands! Open the prisons and make men free!" Flame out the living words of the dead Written-in-red.”
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods of the World! Their mouths are dumb! Your guns have spoken and they are dust. But the shrouded Living, whose hearts were numb, have felt the beat of a wakening drum Within them sounding — the Dead men’s tongue — Calling: "Smite off the ancient rust!" Have beheld "Resurrexit," the word of the Dead, Written-in-red.”
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Magic is the divinity of man conquered by science in union with faith; the true Magi are Men-Gods, in virtue of their intimate union with the divine principle.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is no accident that, in ancient times many peoples used priestesses (think, for example, of the Greek Sibyls) to enter into relationship with the will of the gods.”
Marie-Louise von Franz (1915–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is still in the lap of the gods whether a society can succeed which is based on "civil liberties and human rights" conceived as I have tried to describe them; but of one thing at least we may be sure: the alternatives that have so far appeared have been immeasurably worse.”
Learned Hand (1872–1961) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Fanfare for Prometheus" (29 January 1955).
“He [King Philip] wanted as many Greeks as possible to take part in the festivities in honour of the gods, and so planned brilliant musical contests and lavish banquets for his friends and guests. Out of all Greece he summoned his personal guest-friends and ordered the members of his court to bring along as many as they could of their acquaintances from abroad.”
Diodorus Siculus (90–20 BC) said by 20 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 16.91.5-6, translated by C. Bradford Welles, LCL 422 (1963), p. 91
“There are no gods, we are told, so I must make my own salvation.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When it was first revealed that each of our own deaths had to be balanced by that of an enemy— ~ It wasn’t revealed, Huyler. It was made up. It was a tale we told ourselves, not something the gods graced us with.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Japan was to be married, not to Hitler, but to the German forests; not to Mussolini, but to the Roman pantheon. It was a pact joining German, Roman, and Japanese mythology: a friendship among the beautiful, masculine, pagan gods of East and West.”
Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was still in a world of Greek gods and sacrifices, of Greek plays and Greek language,though the natives might speak Greek with a northern accent which hardened 'ch' into 'g','th' into 'd' and pronounced King Philip as Bilip.”
Robin Lane Fox (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The occasion was not lost on Alexander: at Susa, he sacrificed to Greek gods and held Greek gymnastic games...”
Robin Lane Fox (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inflation is really like drugging the baby universe with speed. The supercool union of the hitherto unfriendly gods was blessed by amphetamine, and this made the universe inflate rather than just expand. The early orgy of expansion in the universe comes to an abrupt end as soon as the supercooled particle stuff finally freezes.”
João Magueijo (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The battle is approaching its end. Since the enemy’s landing, even the gods would weep at the bravery of the officers and men under my command. … [My] men died one by one, and I regret very much that I have allowed the enemy to occupy a piece of Japanese territory.”
Tadamichi Kuribayashi (1891–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the ignorance of nature gave birth to such a variety of gods, the knowledge of this nature is calculated to destroy them.”
Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789) first seen 1770 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Date and place of publication unknown. Original publication in French, 1770, as La Système de la nature, under the name of Jean Baptiste de Mirabaud.
“Now, if the ignorance of nature gave birth to Gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.”
Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789) said by 1789 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Terror is trump. Methods of common brutal suppression are considered sanctified laws. "Old Fighters" are saints, and from the district leader upwards there are only Gods!”
Friedrich Kellner (1885–1970) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: October 7, 1939; p. 43.
“I had the honor to serve at the siege of Arras. Where I received a thrust through the throat, the second of the serious wounds that convinced me, along with all else I had seen of wars miseries and horrors, that Mars was the stupidest of the gods.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poem, even a short time after being written, seems no miracle; unwritten, it seems something beyond the capacity of the gods.”
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So I go to the long adventure, lifting My face to the far, mysterious goals, To the last assize, to the final sifting Of gods and stars and souls.”
Edwin Markham (1852–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Without their tiger gods, the tribe declined into fear and melancholy and begged her to allow them to worship her instead, only to be rejected with contempt; for what good would their worship do her? she asked. It had done nothing for the tigers.”
Philip Pullman (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be cautious," said the other. "Do not offend the gods.”
Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies.”
Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If it is an affliction, it is as you said: The gods know me so well they can predict my behavior. They don't control it. They could know I would love her, but they don't make me. I've watched her for years, you know. All those times when you didn't know where I went, mostly it was to Attolia.”
Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing mortals make lasts; nothing the gods make endures forever.”
Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my experience, the more you know of the gods, the more you know what you cannot understand.”
Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Trust is sadguru fully. This is the only sadhana. Sadguru is all the gods.”
Sai Baba of Shirdi (died 1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the first commandment of feminism is: I am woman; thou shalt not tolerate strange gods who assert that women have capabilities or often choose roles that are different from men's.”
Phyllis Schlafly (1924–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though I battle blind, Love is a fate resigned Memories mar my mind, Love is a fate resigned Over futile odds, And laughed at by the gods And now the final frame, Love is a losing game.”
Amy Winehouse (1983–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s a certain point beyond which any sufficiently extreme Calvinist sect becomes semiotically indistinguishable from the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. But even though their eschatology is insane, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re trying to summon up the elder gods.”
Charles Stross (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They may be a quarter million years more advanced than we are technologically. Their technology will look like magic to us. I don't think that we should be running around thinking these are gods in flying saucers that we should worship. We need to take this in a very rational way.”
Steven M. Greer (born 1955) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in:Researcher's Close Encounters Convince Him Of Extraterrestrials The Virginian-Pilot, Roy A. Bahls, (22 March 1995)
“Many Hindu intellectuals are just not able to comprehend the fact that there is no human aspiration or experience which lies outside the range of Hinduism; it provides for even demon-Gods. In contrast, all religions are in the nature of sects, though they cannot be so defined because of their insistence on their separateness and, indeed, hostility to Hinduism”
Girilal Jain (1924–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods were crucified, scientists and inventors tortured and persecuted, artists slandered.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The language of men was involved with only one hemisphere in order to leave the other free for the language of the gods.”
Julian Jaynes (1920–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bicameral mind with its controlling gods was evolved as a final stage of the evolution of language. And in this development lies the origin of civilization.”
Julian Jaynes (1920–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I shall state my thesis plain. The first poets were gods. Poetry began with the bicameral mind.”
Julian Jaynes (1920–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I lost a few goddesses while moving south to north and also some gods while moving east to west.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Millennia have passed since you first called me archaeology. I no longer require your stone gods, your ruins with legible inscriptions. Show me your whatever and I'll tell you who you were.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The core of common culture is religion. Tribes survive and flourish because they have gods, who fuse many wills into a single will, and demand and reward the sacrifices on which social life depends.”
Roger Scruton (1944–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cease, gentle Maid, cease, cease to grieve, Thy Goddess does thy Pray'rs receive, And Providence will Thee relieve. Those, who on Providence depend, And patiently its Will attend, Shall be rewarded in the End, By Ways and Means least thought upon, That Mortals may be forc'd to own Their Help comes from the Gods alone.”
Jane Barker (1652–1732) said by 1732 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods are growing old; The stars are singing Golden hair to gray Green leaf to yellow leaf,—or chlorophyl To xanthophyl, to be more scientific.”
Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Make songs for Death as you would sing to Love — But you will not assuage him. He alone Of all the gods will take no gifts from men.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source