I ran across some quotations that provoked some thought in me due to the season and thought I would share them:

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865), (attributed)

 My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

 Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), “Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium”, 1941

 I won’t take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.

Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967)

 The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.

George Burns (1896 – 1996)

 Those who seek consolation in existing churches often pay for their peace of mind with a tacit agreement to ignore a great deal of what is known about the way the world works.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 1990

 Never confuse the faith with the supposedly faithful.

Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 10-19-06

 To believe in God or in a guiding force because someone tells you to is the height of stupidity. We are given senses to receive our information within. With our own eyes we see, and with our own skin we feel. With our intelligence, it is intended that we understand. But each person must puzzle it out for himself or herself.

Sophy Burnham

 Whatever God’s dream about man may be, it seems certain it cannot come true unless man cooperates.

Stella Terrill Mann

 With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

Steven Weinberg (1933 – ), quoted in The New York Times, April 20, 1999

 And then to lighten things up a bit, from thought provoking quotes from Steven Wright:

  • Support bacteria – they’re the only culture some people have.
  • When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
  • Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
  • Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
  • Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have film.
  • A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
  • Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
  • For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Have a nice holiday!