Factitious Antagonism

The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so much, appears to me to be purely factitious--fabricated, on the one hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance.

--T. H. Huxley

Game of Chess

War is not possible unless the rich and powerful feel free to demand the lives of the common people be sacrificed with the same ease you lose a pawn in a game of chess.

--Amanda Marcotte

A Thing of Beauty

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness

--John Keats

Wonderful Idea

Christianity is a wonderful idea. I wish someone would try it.

--Mahatma Gandhi

A-Causal

If you think of the creator in human terms, which is the human imagination, then you're in trouble. But in quantum physics, they refer to this field of infinite possibilities as a-causal, which means without cause, non-local, beyond space-time, infinitely correlated inter-relatedness, and when you start to understand that the very fundamental levels of nature are a-causal, they are beyond time, they're without--they transcend time, then you can have a different idea of the creator.

--Deepak Chopra

His Reputation

I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't.

--Jules Renard

Not Waste My Days

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.

--Jack London

Mercantile vs. Feudal

An open, mercantile society is a society run on the bargain of future prospects: in exchange for your subservient labor, we will provide hope. A feudal society is, simply, a society run on the bargain of fear: in exchange for your labor and subservience, we will provide security.

--Adam Gopnik

Straight Line

You should be suspicious when you see a straight line on a map.

--Peter Barber

Real Priorities

The federal budget is more than mere numbers, it is an accounting of our country's priorities.

--Gil Kerlikowske, Seattle Chief of Police

Not Worth Caring

We're afflicted by so many places that are simply not worth caring about anymore. This is having a tremendous effect on us. It's corroding our spirits.

--James Howard Kunstler

Art vs. Science

Art is I; science is we.

--Claude Bernard

Wrong Question

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

--Thomas Pynchon

Empathy

There comes a tipping point where people began to empathize with the helpless, side with the ordinary, and quit idolizing the overly entitled. It has to be a small child that points out the emperor has no clothes. And it has to be the Trojan women who lament the destruction of war.

--Amanda Marcotte

Want Fruit?

We live in a world that wants the fruits of scientific labor, but refuses the mental discipline of scientific rationality.

--Timothy Shortell

Scrutinize Theories

Every scientific theory is constantly under scrutiny and has unknowns at its edges. Singling out evolution makes it appear that evolution is suspect, which it isn't.

--Lawrence Krauss, physicist at Case Western Reserve University

Brain Joy

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

--Carl Sagan