“The core of science is not controlled experiment or mathetical modeling; it is intellectual honesty. It is time we acknowledge a basic feature of human discourse: when considering the truth of a proposition, one is either engaged in an honest appraisal of the evidence and logical arguments, or one isn't.”
― Letter to a Christian Nation
― Letter to a Christian Nation
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
― Letters to a Young Contrarian
― Letters to a Young Contrarian
“Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience.”
― God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
― God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
“We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don´t know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.
Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.”
― The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.”
― The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
“120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer.”
― The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
― The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
Michael’s 2023 Year in Books
Take a look at Michael’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
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