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There are people whose mind would recoil from actual negation, but who have no objection to complete indifference; this is what is most to be feared, for to deny something one must think about it to some extent, however little that may be, whereas an attitude of indifference makes it possible not to think about it at all.

— René Guénon The Crisis of the Modern World (1927)

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Atheism

More quotes by René Guénon

A philosopher's renown is increased more by inventing a new error than by repeating a truth that has already been expressed by others.

The Crisis of the Modern World (1927)

If an idea is true, it belongs equally to all who are capable of understanding it.

The Crisis of the Modern World (1927)

Dante's corpus as a whole is in certain respects like a testament to the closing medieval age; it shows what the Western world would have been had it not broken from its tradition.

Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power (1929)

It is worth noting that Protestantism suppresses the clergy, and though it claims to uphold the authority of the Bible, it in fact ruins it by 'free inquiry'.

Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power (1929)

The true function of the priesthood, then, is above all one of knowledge and teaching, and this is why, as we said above, its proper attribute is wisdom.

Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power (1929)

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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: René Guénon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.