quotations about superstition
Superstition is the ape of true devotion.
JOSEPH HALL
Contemplations on the Historical Passages of the Old and New Testaments
If superstition is driven from the mind ... all must be the work of man. The grand victories of the future must be won by man, and by man alone.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
On the Gods and Other Essays
Death approaches, which is always impending like the stone over Tantalus: then comes superstition with which he who is imbued can never have peace of mind.
CICERO
De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Superstitions offer a way for humans to shape our destinies--or try to. Many of us follow rituals to stave off bad luck, attract romance, or keep our own inner worlds intact.
NATALIE ZARRELLI
"The Totally Jinxed Map of Global Superstitions", Atlas Obscura, December 15, 2016
The superstitions of today are the scientific facts of tomorrow.
JOHN L. BALDERSTON
Dracula
The causes of superstition are: pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies; excess of outward and pharisaical holiness; overgreat reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church; the stratagems of prelates, for their own ambition and lucre; the favoring too much of good intentions, which openeth the gate to conceits and novelties; the taking an aim at divine matters, by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations: and, lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities and disasters.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Superstition", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Religion was the lullaby of the cradle, the ghost-story told by the old woman, Superstition.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage
May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826
We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know. We can tell the truth, and we can enjoy the blessed freedom that the brave have won. We can destroy the monsters of superstition, the hissing snakes of ignorance and fear. We can drive from our minds the frightful things that tear and wound with beak and fang. We can civilize our fellow-men. We can fill our lives with generous deeds, with loving words, with art and song, and all the ecstasies of love. We can flood our years with sunshine -- with the divine climate of kindness, and we can drain to the last drop the golden cup of joy.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
"Why I Am an Agnostic", The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
To combat superstition one must be a believer.
MADAME SWETCHINE
attributed, Day's Collacon
It is the business of science to offer rational explanations for all the events in the real world, and any scientist who calls on God to explain something is falling down on his job. This applies as much to the start of the expansion as to any other event. If the explanation is not forthcoming at once, the scientist must suspend judgment: but if he is worth his salt he will always maintain that a rational explanation will eventually be found. This is the one piece of dogmatism that a scientist can allow himself--and without it science would be in danger of giving way to superstition every time that a problem defied solution for a few years.
WILLIAM B. BONNER
The Mystery of the Expanding Universe
As darkness encourages the growth of reptiles, so in an inverse manner, do the creatures of superstition promote the growth of darkness.
LADY BLESSINGTON
attributed, Day's Collacon
"Superstition" is simply a derogative term for a belief about the supernatural that you don't share.
WENDY KAMINER
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials
O superstition! Your inflexible rigours deprive humanity of the most sensitive hearts.
VOLTAIRE
Fanatacism, or Mahomet the Prophet
We were children, it is true, yet we were descendants of people who read books and who were, or should have been, beyond superstition and impervious to mindless fear.
WILLIAM FAULKNER
Collected Stories
History warns us ... that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
"The Coming Age of the Origin of Species", Collected Essays
When man seized the loadstone of science, the loadstar of superstition vanished in the clouds.
WILLIAM R. ALGER
attributed, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources
The glossy surface of our civilization hides a real intellectual decadence. There is no area in our minds reserved for superstition, such as the Greeks had in their mythology; and superstition, under cover of an abstract vocabulary, has revenged itself by invading the entire realm of thought.
SIMONE WEIL
"The Power of Words", Selected Essays
A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
"Maxims for Revolutionists", Man and Superman
Refuge in superstitions and dreams
Toying with the imaginary
Memory becomes a luxury
Refuge in superstitions and dreams
It's no way to make History
STEREOLAB
"Check and Double Check"