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Along with Islam and Christianity, Judaism does insist that some turgid and contradictory and sometimes evil and mad texts, obviously written by fairly unexceptional humans, are in fact the word of god. I think that the indispensable condition of any intellectual liberty is the realisation that there is no such thing.

— Christopher Hitchens Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001)

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Atheism

More quotes by Christopher Hitchens

Intellectuals never sound more foolish than when posing as the last civilised man.

Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere (2000)

Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.

A good liar must have a good memory. Kissinger is a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory.

Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and you've taken the first step to becoming free.

The reading public isn't born that doesn't think foreigners are either funny or faintly sinister.

For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports (1993)

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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)

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