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When men live as if there were no God, it becomes expedient for them that there should be none; and then they endeavour to persuade themselves so, and will be glad to find arguments to fortify themselves in this persuasion.

— John Tillotson The Folly of Scoffing at Religion (1671)

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Atheism

More quotes by John Tillotson

The covetous man heaps up riches, not to enjoy them, but to have them.

With what reason canst thou expect that they children should follow thy good instructions, when thou thyself givest them an ill example?

Truth is the shortest and nearest way to our end, carrying us thither in a straight line.

If God were not a necessary Being of himself, he might almost seem to be made for the use and benefit of men.

Day's Collacon: An Encyclopaedia of Prose Quotations (1884)

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part, the kindness should begin on ours.

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

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Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

Wilhelm Reich Philosophy : An Introduction to the Art of Wondering (2005)

Religion in so far as it is a source of consolation is a hindrance to true faith; and in this sense atheism is a purification.

Simone Weil

One of the most exquisite pleasures of human love — to serve the loved one without his knowing it — is only possible, as regards the love of God, through atheism.

Simone Weil Last Notebook (1942)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

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