SUPERSTITION QUOTES III
quotations about superstition
Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
The Complete Essays
Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.
JOHN ADAMS
letter to John Quincy Adams, November 13, 1816
I wish to substitute humanity for superstition, the love of our fellow men, for the fear of God.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage
Aren't we supposed to free ourselves from lies and superstition? Isn't that the obligation of intelligent beings?
ANNE RICE
The Wolves of Midwinter
What if cards don't go my way?
And it's sure to spoil my day
But in voices loud and clear you say to me, "It's only superstition
It's only your imagination
It's only all of the things that you fear and the things from which you can't escape"
COLDPLAY
"Only Superstition", brothers & sisters
The quaking bystanders in a superstitious age would soon have slain an isolated bold man in the beginning of his innovations.
WALTER BAGEHOT
Physics and Politics
The most infallible mark of ignorance is superstition.
STANISLAUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
The beginning of superstition was the subtlety of Satan; the beginning of true religion, the service of God.
GENNADIUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
The Brothers Karamazov
The funny thing about superstitions is that the nonsense ones are perfectly reasonable if they're YOUR superstitions, it's everybody else's that are ridiculous.
FLAVIA BERTOLINI
"Don't do that, it's bad luck! There are a lot of superstitions out there, and some of them are really quite peculiar", Mirror, April 30, 2017
Superstition, without a veil, is a deformed thing; for, as it addeth deformity to an ape, to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion, makes it the more deformed. And as wholesome meat corrupteth to little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt, into a number of petty observances.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Superstition", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Primitive superstition lies just below the surface of even the most tough-minded individuals, and it is precisely those who most fight against it who are the first to succumb to its suggestive effects.
CARL JUNG
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
I am so superstitious that if I had arrived when there was no sunshine I should have been wretched and most anxious until after my first performance. It is a perfect torture to be superstitious to this degree, and, unfortunately for me, I am ten times more so now than I was in those days, for besides the superstitions of my own country, I have, thanks to my travels, added to my stock all the superstitions of other countries. I know them all now, and in any critical moment of my life, they all rise up in armed legions for or against me. I cannot walk a single step or make any movement or gesture, sit down, go out, look at the sky or ground, without feeling some reason for hope or despair, until at last, exasperated by the trammels put upon my actions by my thought, I defy all superstitions and just act as I want to act.
SARAH BERNHARDT
My Double Life
For a set of supposedly irrational beliefs, superstitions have a surprisingly large following.
JULIANA LABIANCA
"Why Do You Believe in Superstitions? Here's What the Science Says", Reader's Digest, December 29, 2016
Although superstitions might seem like holdovers from a different era, plenty of people believe in them today. According to a Gallup poll, nearly a quarter of Americans admitted to being somewhat superstitious, particularly when it came to traditions like knocking on wood and walking under a ladder. Following these traditions doesn't make you irrational; they're simply part of a culture that gets passed down through the generations. Besides, if there's anything universally beloved by humanity, it's coming up with rituals.
CLAIRE WARNER
"The Origins Of These Common Superstitions Are Absolutely Fascinating", Bustle, January 13, 2017
Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.
CARL SAGAN
Cosmos
The world's hope is centered on men devoid of superstition.
ABNER KNEELAND
attributed, Day's Collacon
might be superstition but some kind of somethin'
goin' on down there
it might be superstition but some kind of somethin'
goin' on down there
it's an old time tradition when they play their
drums at night in Congo Square
SONNY LANDRETH
"Congo Square Lyrics"
Once people begin to understand the right relation of things and the real cause of phenomenon, they cease to be superstitious.
BARSHA NAG BHOWMICK
"Black cat, bad luck: Really how superstitious are you?", Times of India, May 22, 2017
With their backs to the sunrise they worship the night.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
The Gods and Other Lectures