Humanist Quotes

“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.”
― Isaac Asimov

“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“The human body resonates at the same frequency as Mother Earth. So instead of only focusing on trying to save the earth, which operates in congruence to our vibrations, I think it is more important to be one with each other. If you really want to remedy the earth, we have to mend mankind. And to unite mankind, we heal the Earth. That is the only way. Mother Earth will exist with or without us. Yet if she is sick, it is because mankind is sick and separated. And if our vibrations are bad, she reacts to it, as do all living creatures.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohow permanent.”
― Walt Kelly

“The human heart is too grand to be wasted in the gutter of cultural exclusivity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race

“Hand of human is the hand of god.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown

“To understand the soul all we have to do is dissect the brain, but that still won't tell us anything about the person, for that we'd actually have to talk to them, listen to them, spend time with them, without analyzing, without judging, without calculating.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“There are two kinds of understanding, one is empirical understanding, to understand the building blocks of the universe, another is existential understanding, which is to look at the world through human eyes, beyond the lens of the microscope.

To understand the soul all we have to do is dissect the brain, but that still won't tell us anything about the person, for that we'd actually have to talk to them, listen to them, spend time with them, without analyzing, without judging, without calculating.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Have Nerve, Stand Electric
(Sonnet 3274/ Song 15)

You cannot have a brain and chain it.
You cannot have a spine and bend it.

You cannot have a heart and divide it.
You cannot have a mind and dogmatize it.

You cannot claim wisdom and philosophize.
You cannot claim the sacred and sectarianize.

You cannot have eyes and not see through lies.
You cannot have ears and not hear the cries.

You cannot have arms and not stretch 'em wide.
You cannot have feet and not swim the tide.

You cannot have veins and not erupt at injustice.
You cannot have nerve cells and not stand electric.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Be mindful of your place in society - not above the people, but above the government - not above justice, but above the police - not above life, but above the law - not above rights, but above religion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Don't need a license to defend humankind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“No guns and arrows,
no bombs from shadows,
I make my tnt in my marrows.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“No guns and arrows,
no bombs from shadows,
I make my tnt in my marrows -

let them bring armies
of hate and apartheid,
I sing ablaze beyond the tribe.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“My world, my duty,
mundo mi deber,
no soy ni mono ni oveja,
solo soy humano ser;

no hay extraño, sólo vecino,
cada persona mi pueblo, mi gente.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Un ser humano
es suficiente,
light up the planet,
yalla ciao, yalla ciao,
yalla ciao, ciao, ciao -

tengo no país,
ni escritura,
don't need a license
to defend humankind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“My world, my duty, mundo mi deber,
no soy ni mono ni oveja,
solo soy humano ser;
no hay extraño, sólo vecino,
cada persona mi pueblo, mi gente.

Un ser humano es suficiente,
light up the planet,
yalla ciao, yalla ciao,
yalla ciao, ciao, ciao –

tengo no país, ni escritura,
don’t need a license
to defend humankind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Nothing happens for a reason, so be the reason that something happens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“All schools must lead to people, if not, they are not schools but circus, no matter the etiquette and rituals.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Empathy is the ultimate education, but if your education shrinks your empathy, you have become a machine, not educated.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Intellect may reveal the most analytical and efficient picture of society, which at times may be vital, but intellect doesn't necessarily reveal the complete human picture of society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Don't be a better scientist, be a better human, you'll automatically be a better scientist.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“If I as a man can be uncompromisingly outspoken against toxic masculinity, you as a white person can take a stand against white supremacy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Come as you are, come all lovers and martyrs, come all tolerants and moderates - let's get ruined together, as equals, in the tangible toil for a real humane earth, rather than praying for eden at bedtime.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“To find happiness in another's joy is the beginning of life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Not everything that is legal is ethical, not everything that is ethical is legal. Legal, rational, religious, patriotic, these are all political categories, not developmental ones - in fact, in many cases these act as the greatest obstacle to the development of human character.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“Kainabi, Sonnet 3230
(Don't take too literally)

Silence is the mother tongue of the universe,
integration is her first instinct,
integration of matter, integration of force,
integration of all existence, that's why
a drop of water makes a perfect bubble
in pressurized but gravityless conditions -

and in the absence of a spacesuit to maintain
a pressurized barrier between skin and vacuum,
every drop of liquid in our body starts boiling,
in order to disperse into its surroundings,
because oneness is the law of the cosmos,
whereas disintegration, sectarianism,
and discrimination, are status quo of the apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“You only live once, but if you live to plant good, you never die.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer

“A 20 watt bulb can light up a house, a 20 watt brain can light up a planet.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Naskar Goes to Earth: Field Notes from A Planet of Apes

“Not everyone is Naskar on Naskar's Earth, yet anyone can be Naskar, because anybody can surpass their tribe, if they put their heart, brain and backbone to it.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Naskar Goes to Earth: Field Notes from A Planet of Apes

“Brain Scientist's Diary of Kindness
(Sonnet 3015)

There is such a thing as neuroscience of religion,
and neuroscience of criminal behavior,
and neuroscience of tribalism,

but there is no such thing
as neuroscience of kindness,
well, there is, but that's not the point,

the point is, if you're looking for science
behind kindness before you're kind,
you've already failed kindness,
and one who fails kindness fails humanity,
no matter how big they become in brain.

Talking in fancy scientific jargon,
like mirror neurons, oxytocin, evolution,
doesn't make a person kind and wise -

not everything needs to be scientifically
validated, you can study, of course,
to develop a deeper understanding of life,
but empathy must precede intelligence,

otherwise, unregulated intelligence produces
more gas chambers, nakbas, hiroshimas,
and school targeting algorithms,
than it benefits humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Naskar Goes to Earth: Field Notes from A Planet of Apes