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

“Women are indigenous to their bodies,
Palestinians are native to their home.
Privilege cannot buy righteousness,
nor can blind faith redraw chromosome.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“I lived my duty, now you be the Naskar.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“I lived my duty,
now you be the Naskar.
Let the cosmos stand witness,
to the spark of human nature.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“There is nothing above me, nothing is underneath. The day I left the ape behind, the jungle lost a sheep.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“There is no time, only I am.
There is no society, only I am.
There is no law, only I am.
There is no sacred, only I am.

There is no genre, only I am.
There is no poetry, only I am.
There is no reason, only I am.
There is no reality, only I am.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“The First Human (Sonnet 2632)

Apes have lords and ladies, I don't.
Apes have kings and queens, I don't.
My time is born of soil and streets,
my calendar transcends rome and greece.

Apes have highnesses and excellencies,
for apes have compost for a brain.
Ape chase the "after", over life,
for apes have alcohol in their vein.

No wall is tall enough to contain my height,
no pulpit sacred enough to baptize my eye,
no table broad enough to accommodate my shoe,
no accolade is bright enough to add to my light.

Apes have cops and courts, I don't,
for apes have guano for a cortex.
I don't need angels in the air,
I carry my wings in my pocket.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“I'm the Original Virtue that predates vermin vaticans,
I'm the First Piety that predates all promised estate.
I'm the Sacred Science that defangs all poison saffron,
I'm the Ink of Mind that outdates doctrinal malignance.

I'm the Original Swastika that predates all reichs,
I'm the Sunrise that outlives puny stars and stripes.
I'm Justice, I'm Dervish, I'm phenyl to the fascist -
my footsteps are the law, I'm pesticide to prejudice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Insaan se ucha na vatan, na khoon,
Na koi sanskaar, na koi kaanoon.
Rehmat se jiye to har roz ramzaan,
Insaan se mile Insaan ka sukoon.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Insaan se ucha na vatan, na khoon, na koi sanskaar, na koi kaanoon.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Ik Onkaar, Satnaam Shahaada;
Koi bole paani, koi bole water.
Utho Insaan, Marham ka Sagar;
Ana al Haq, Vigyan Ujaagar.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Na koi kaafir, na koi sant;
Na andh-vishwas in dharmgranth.
Love is my duty, brain is my flame;
I'm signpost on the cosmic lane.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Border ke paar, har koi yaar;
Na koi ajnabi, har din Iftaar.
Har ek mulk, mera hi mulk;
Har ek culture, mera culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Vision Viraat, Vajra Avinashi;
Na koi dev, na koi daasi.
Love is the law, tolerance is anthem;
Dervish Divaane, Advaita Ruhani.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Jai Insaan, Cheytna Saagar;
Jai Vivek, Vidyut Ujaagar.
Koi bole water, koi bole paani;
Koi bole darvish, koi sanyaasi.

Utho Insaan, Marham ka Sagar;
Ana al Haq, Vigyan Ujaagar.
Koi bole water, koi bole paani;
Koi bole scientist, koi bole sufi.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Ek Insaan, aur ek hi lakshya;
Moksh ka matlab ek hi manushya.
Dharm se upar Insaan hi satya;
Imaan Insaaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat.

Marham na mazhab dekhe,
Marham na dekhe mulk.
Dunya meri zimmedari meri,
This is the Naskar truth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“I am the laboratory,
I am the court room,
I am the operating theatre,
I am the decontamination zone.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Truth is a garden, not a factory, which means dead leaves must fall, new branches must be tendered to.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Bring your brain, heart and backbone, but leave everything else at the door, your dictionary, your scripture, your constitution, your philosophy, or do not enter, there'll be no point.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“I'm a traitor to every state that demands exclusive patriotism at the expense of their neighbor - I know you won't understand this, you are still monkeys after all, albeit in suits and boots, but one day your human descendants will breathe free, free from fear, free from bloodlust, free from war, because I stood as a human traitor in a planet of patriotic apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Expansion is the default state of life, unless you actively nurture limitation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“A human being in their complete wholeness is universally illegal in every nation state, because the jungle thrives on fragmentation, and any specimen that refuses to honor and obey fragmentation, is by default a national threat.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Awake, arise, break the trance of tribe,
and the planet of apes becomes human.
Hoist your heart as a beacon of love -
confront the fear, and war loses oxygen.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock