Thursday, July 5, 2018

Quote of the Day (Voltaire, on Absurdities and Atrocities)


“Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. Truly, those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. If the God-given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God-given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well.”—French author, humanist, rationalist, and satirist Voltaire (1694 - 1778), Questions sur les miracles (“Of Miracles”) (1765)

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