Leslie Stephen > Quotes

“No good story is quite true.”
― Leslie Stephen

“The Agnostic is one who asserts 'what no one denies' that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence.”
― Leslie Stephen

“No poetry lives which reflects only the cheerful emotions. Our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought. We can bring harmony out of melancholy; we cannot banish melancholy from the world. And the religious utterances, which are the highest form of poetry, are bound by the same law. There is a deep sadness in the world.”
― Leslie Stephen

“God is angry with man. Unless we believe and repent we shall all be damned. It is impossible, indeed, for its advocates even to say this without instantly contradicting themselves. Their doctrine frightens them. They explain in various ways that a great many people will be saved without believing, and that eternal damnation is not eternal nor damnation.”
― Leslie Stephen, An Agnostic's Apology And Other Essays

“Our imaginations may be awed when we look at the mountains as monuments of the slow working of stupendous forces of nature through countless millenniums.”
― Leslie Stephen

“Lying may be necessary, but should always be painful.”
― Leslie Stephen, The English Utilitarians: Volume III