Freethinker Quotes

“[...]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“My 'morals' were sound, even a bit puritanic, but when a hidebound old deacon inveighed against dancing I rebelled. By the time of graduation I was still a 'believer' in orthodox religion, but had strong questions which were encouraged at Harvard. In Germany I became a freethinker and when I came to teach at an orthodox Methodist Negro school I was soon regarded with suspicion, especially when I refused to lead the students in public prayer. When I became head of a department at Atlanta, the engagement was held up because again I balked at leading in prayer. I refused to teach Sunday school. When Archdeacon Henry Phillips, my last rector, died, I flatly refused again to join any church or sign any church creed. From my 30th year on I have increasingly regarded the church as an institution which defended such evils as slavery, color caste, exploitation of labor and war. I think the greatest gift of the Soviet Union to modern civilization was the dethronement of the clergy and the refusal to let religion be taught in the public schools.”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century

“If we could believe that he [Jesus] really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanism which his biographers [Gospels] father on him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations, and theorizations of the fathers of the early, and the fanatics of the latter ages, the conclusion would be irresistible by every sound mind that he was an impostor... We find in the writings of his biographers matter of two distinct descriptions. First, a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstitions, fanaticisms and fabrications... That sect [Jews] had presented for the object of their worship, a being of terrific character, cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust... Jesus had to walk on the perilous confines of reason and religion: and a step to right or left might place him within the gripe of the priests of the superstition, a blood thirsty race, as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel. They were constantly laying snares, too, to entangle him in the web of the law... That Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God, physically speaking, I have been convinced by the writings of men more learned than myself in that lore.

[Letter to William Short, 4 August, 1820]”
― Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson

“Be aware of this truth that the people on this earth could be joyous, if only they would live rationally and if they would contribute mutually to each others' welfare.

This world is not a vale of sorrows if you will recognize discriminatingly what is truly excellent in it; and if you will avail yourself of it for mutual happiness and well-being. Therefore, let us explain as often as possible, and particularly at the departure of life, that we base our faith on firm foundations, on Truth for putting into action our ideas which do not depend on fables and ideas which Science has long ago proven to be false.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage

“BORDERS, NATIONALISM and IDENTITY
have always been the worst enemies of
HUMANITY”
― Mouloud Benzadi

“Bertrand Russell declared that, in case he met God, he would say to Him, "Sir, you did not give us enough information." I would add to that, "All the same, Sir, I'm not persuaded that we did the best we could with the information we had. Toward the end there, anyway, we had tons of information.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage

“God seemed to have become a brand, a packaging, and people purchase this trusted brand with such faith and devotion that they no longer care who the vendor is.”
― Justin Villanueva, Conversations with the Light Bearer

“[n regard to Jesus believing himself inspired]
This belief carried no more personal imputation than the belief of Socrates that he was under the care and admonition of a guardian demon. And how many of our wisest men still believe in the reality of these inspirations while perfectly sane on all other subjects (Works, Vol. iv, p. 327).”
― Thomas Jefferson

“You are not going to heaven if you do good, you are not going to hell if you do evil, you'll simply dissipate into nature like any other animal, but your goodness will live on through others for a while yet.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“World has no shortage of tradition,
yet civilization is scarce.
World has no shortage of nerve cells,
yet consciousness is scarce.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Cut the wings of a dove at birth, and it'll spend its life crawling like vermin.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“The confidence of ignorance is always louder than the confidence of knowledge.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Religious beyond religion, cultured beyond culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“In English we say:
live and let live.
In Naskarian we say:
choose and let choose.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“If all it takes is a couple of burning bushes, magic tricks and fairytales to quench your quest for truth, you have neither the brain, nor the backbone, or the heart to explore truth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Fairytales provide nourishment for the mind, but only as tales of fantasy, not of truth. Myths are crucial part of the social fabric, but they must never become the backbone of society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Every day that you choose inclusivity over segregation, you actively redirect evolution from a human-looking species to human species.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“I must be free, absolutely, unequivocally free, from all forms of chains masquerading as roots - so I stand free, from every last inherited loyalty, not as a better human, just an invitation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“I'm done trying to please everybody,
the academic robot,
the religious fanatic,
the newage crackpot -
I'm done tiptoeing on eggshells.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“When a 3 pound brain drops on a bigot in its complete vastness, bigotry don't just blush, it's blasted to ashes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Generation Understanding (Sonnet 2480)

No matter what the apes want you to believe,

it's not weakness to abandon suspicion,
it's not weakness to discard judgment,
it's not weakness to practice empathy,
it's not weakness to be considerate -

it's not misdemeanor to denounce primitive
practices that our ancestors thought sensible,
it's a sign of wisdom, not stupidity, to admit
ignorance, rather than succumb to supernatural.

My favorite answer of all is, 'I don't know' -
in the absence of rigorous investigation
that's the answer I fall back on the most;

then there are times when logic is immaterial,
there I avoid all mention of knowledge, and
take the humane course, despite reason or ritual.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“There's no bigger lie than a truth that refuses to evolve with time or be mended when at fault.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Life is but a string of disillusionments.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Instead of wasting time and resources on trying to prove mythologies as historical fact, cultivate some civilized sense befitting your looks, and apply your concerns to solve real-life issues.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Why (Sonnet 2493)

Why is it that, for one religion to be true,
all other religions have to be false!
Why is it that, for one culture to find glory,
all other cultures have to be dehumanized!

Why is it that, for one people to prosper,
another people have to be exploited!
Why is it that, to conceive a brave new nation,
the landmass has to be sterilized of the natives!

Why is it that, for one nation to be strong,
all other citizens have to be tagged as enemy!
Why is it that, for one kind of love to flourish,
love's myriad spectrum gets banished to the closet!

Why is it that, for one community to flourish,
rest of humankind must be choked against the wall!
Why is it that, for the state to come into power,
the citizens must be brainwashed into vegetable!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“I don't think, I roar.
I don't write, I pour.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Truth follows the belief, humanize the belief, and truth becomes human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Apes will talk, and it hardly matters - opinion of the apes is irrelevant in human affairs.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Early Naskar, 2015-17, was mostly borrowed research with occasional original Naskar, mid Naskar, 2017-21, was mostly original Naskar with occasional borrowed data, late phase Naskar, 2021 onward, is pure Naskar, beyond the scale and scope of institutions.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“I spent my youth building reputation, then I spent a life setting fire to it, because reputation among sectarian apes only means that I’ve failed as a human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace