Quote Farm

[joreth]

Watching an episode of the TV show Numb3rs last night, one of the characters gave an excellent atheist quote by Clarence Darrow - made most famous for his defense in the Scopes Monkey Trial, although I didn't know this at this at the time.

Numb3rs references lots of notable people, mostly mathmaticians, but all people of science who have made great contributions to our understanding of the world today. So, since I liked the quote, I looked him up. I found several pages dedicated to him, but one in particular was a list of quotes that are attributed to him. So I'm listing my favorites here (the shorter ones I've already Twittered about). The first one is the quote from the show that sparked this whole seach in the first place:

• Fear of God isn't the beginning of wisdom, it's the end


• Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.


• Depressions may bring people closer to the church but so do funerals.


• History repeats itself, and that's one of the things that's wrong with history.


• I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.


• I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose.


• I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd eat it, and I just hate it. ¹


• I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.


• In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the belief in God and in personal immortality.


• Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.


• Laws should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they serve.


• Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.


• None meet life honestly and few heroically.


• Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas.


• The best that we can do is to be kindly and helpful toward our friends and fellow passengers who are clinging to the same speck of dirt while we are drifting side by side to our common doom.²


• The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.


• The origin of the absurd idea of immortal life is easy to discover; it is kept alive by hope and fear, by childish faith, and by cowardice.


• The pursuit of truth will set you free; even if you never catch up with it.


• The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything.


• True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.


• When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.³


• You can only be free if I am free.


• You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom.

I heartily approve of any form of entertainment that celebrates intellectualism, but the fact that the show is engaging and entertaining on top of that is aces!  It teaches me math and science concepts and it prompts me to go out and do research on my own and I think I am enriched by exposure to this show, as opposed to feeling dirty and stupid by exposure to reality TV and Oprah talk shows.  But that's another rant.

1. tacit says a variation of this one a lot, to illustrate the flawed logic of many emotional reactions, particularly in sex or poly issues. For instance, he might refer to a fear that is holding on for dear life, causing a person to resist giving up that fear or insecurity because then they would be able to participate in that situation, and that would be terrible because they hate that situation. i.e. "I hate it the idea of my boyfriend having sex with other women because of [insert insecurity here], so I won't work on that insecurity that will allow him to have sex with other women because I hate the idea of him having sex with other women".

2. zen_shooter thinks this is actually H.P. Lovecraft. It could be misattributed, or Darrow could have quoted Lovecraft at one time and has since been attributed for the quote himself.

3. I like this quote mainly because of our last president ... how the hell did we end up with him a second freakin' time? Nevermind, don't answer that, it's too depressing. I'll focus instead on the reversal of his mistakes by the current administration.

Comments

[corpsefairy.livejournal.com]

Google indicates that the quote is attributed to Darrow, not Lovecraft.