Quick quotes on religion

“A thing isn’t necessarily true because a man dies for it”—Oscar Wilde

… and other fortune-cookie quotes

Quoting George Gaylord Simpson

George Gaylord Simpson, Life of the Past:

“Man stands alone in the universe, a unique product of a long, unconcious, impersonal material process with unique understanding and potentialities. These he owes to no one but himself, and it is to himself that he is responsible. He is not the creature of uncontrollable and undeterminable forces, but his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny.”

Quoting Franz Weidenreich

Franz Weidenreich, Morphology of Solo Man:

“But the limit of tolerance for these human foibles is obtained when the proponent of a questionable scientific doctrine endeavors to maintain it against all possible odds by misrepresentation, misinformation and suppression of contradictory data, and by insinuating unfairness in opponents of his views.”

Hat tip to Afarensis for the quotation.

Quoting Montaigne

Man is quite insane. He wouldn’t know how to create a maggot, and he creates gods by the dozen.

Quoting Voltaire

Voltaire’s prayer to God:

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.”

I found this over on Panda’s Thumb (the virtual pub of the University of Ediacara).