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All religions fall far short of their own ideals.

— Ernest Becker The Denial of Death (1973)

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More quotes by Ernest Becker

Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.

The Denial of Death (1973)

It is fateful and ironic how the lie we need in order to live dooms us to a life that is never really ours.

The Denial of Death (1973)

Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility,; especially when the choice comes too late in life for one to be able to start over again.

The Denial of Death (1973)

The neurotic opts out of life because he is having trouble maintaining his illusions about it, which proves nothing less than that life is possible only with illusions.

The Denial of Death (1973)

The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.

The Denial of Death (1973)

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

Attribution

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