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From the fame opinion of a soul distinct from the body came the practice of praying, first for the dead, and then to them with a long train of other absurd opinions, and superstitious practices.

— Joseph Priestley An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

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Spirituality

More quotes by Joseph Priestley

The unity of God is a doctrine on which the greatest stress is laid in the whole system of revelation.

An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

The History of Electricity is a field full of pleasing objects, according to all the genuine and universal principles of taste, deduced from a knowledge of human nature.

The History and Present State of Electricity (1767)

As the greatest things often take their rise from the smallest beginnings, so the worst things sometimes proceed from good intentions.

An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

The mind of man will never be able to contemplate the being, perfections, and providence of God without meeting with inexplicable difficulties.

Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion (1772)

Governors will never be awed by the voice of the people, so long as it is a mere voice, without overt-acts.

Essay on the First Principles of Government, 2nd Edition (1771)

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Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time.

Mircea Eliade Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (1967)

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Thomas Jefferson

The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man loves his property.

Confucius

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph Priestley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.