We shall now present to you an honor roll of humanists. It is by no means definitive. It is meant to inform. In some cases you will hear what a given humanist said or wrote. Some of the quotes are strongly worded in reaction to society’s intolerance. You may disagree with what is said. Humanists most likely would use that disagreement as a basis for further exploring the subject.
Samuel Coleridge-Here.
Aristotle-Men create gods after their own image, not only in regard to their form, but with regard to their own way of life
Tacitus- Here
Shakespeare-Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian
Lucretius-Here
Sir Francis Bacon-The Trinitarian believes a virgin to be the mother of a son who is her maker.
Voltaire-Here
Magellan-The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church.
Beethoven-Here
Ben Franklin- Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.
Clarence Darrow- Here
Abraham Lincoln-It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely. My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them… I am not a Christian.
Sigmund Freud-Here
Luther Burbank-Most people’s religion is what they want to believe.
Mark Twain- Here
Ralph Waldo Emerson-As men’s prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect- who would be a man must also be a non-conformist.
George Bernard Shaw-Here
Thomas Edison- I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul. All this talk of an existence beyond the grave is wrong. It is born out of our tenacity of life-our desire to go on living-our dread of coming to an end.
Eleanor Roosevelt- Here
Bertrand Russell-The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
H.G. Wells-Here
Isaac Asimov-Gradually I became aware of a movement called humanism which used that name because … humanists believe that human beings produced the progressive advance of human society and the ills that plague it They believe that if the ills are to be alleviated, it is humanity that will have to do the job.
Steve Allen- Here
Albert Einstein-A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectively on sympathy, education, and social ties and no religious basis is necessary.
Kurt Vonnegut-Here
Joseph Campbell- What gods are there, what gods have ever been, that were not from man’s imagination.
Gypsy Rose Lee- Here
Carl Sagan-If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate…try science.
Peter Ustinov-Here
Katherine Hepburn-I’m an atheist and that’s that. There’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to one another and do what’s we can for other people.
Stephan Jay Gould- Here
John Lennon- Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today…
Thomas Jefferson-Here
Thomas Paine-The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion… One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
Gloria Steinem- When we speak of equality, of women and men, of blacks and whites, of all the world’s people, we are talking about humanism.
Albert Schweitzer- Humanism in all its simplicity … is genuine spirituality.
Linus Pauling-Humanism is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater good for all humanity, of application of new ideas of scientific progress for the benefit of all.
BB 12/2005