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People not only live by symbols, but die by them, as wars of religion and nationalism attest.

— A. C. Grayling Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

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More quotes by A. C. Grayling

It is the technique of the baboon to try to get its way by violence.

Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

Power’s tendency to corrupt is a function of the work it does in liberating man’s worse characteristics.

Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

There is no greater social evil than religion. It is the cancer in the body of humanity.

Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

“Evil” is first and foremost a religious notion. It means whatever a religion dislikes.

Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

Symbols have the unfortunate power to acquire the importance of what they symbolise.

Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002)

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Only the dead have seen the end of war.

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Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

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