Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.

I put up my thumb and it blotted out the planet Earth.

Those whom the gods love grow young.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

Buddhism is not a creed, it is a doubt.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

Religion is not going to come up with any new arguments.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

All my life I’ve been taught how to die, but no one ever taught me how to grow old.

Men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown proposed as things forgot.

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

Theology is unnecessary.

I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.

God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.

I’ll die a crazy old man!

We cannot wish for that we know not.

I’m actually an evangelical atheist, but there is something I recognise about religion: that it gives people a chance to surrender.

I’m sure I’ve changed my mind about something. Inevitably, when we grow up – as we get more experience and wiser. Well, I’ve changed my mind about some food that I didn’t like when I was young.

The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.

The Koran shows every sign of being thrown together by human beings, as do all the other holy books.

Up until the 1920s, everyone thought the universe was essentially static and unchanging in time.

The just is close to the people’s heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

Religion is compulsory in English schools, you know.

I would fain grow old learning many things.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

There is only a finger’s difference between a wise man and a fool.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Having nothing, nothing can he lose.

Religion is the opium of the masses.

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.

Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek – I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain.

The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

To you I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the Loyal Opposition.

I’m considered wise, and sometimes I see myself as knowing. Most of the time, I see myself as wanting to know. And I see myself as a very interested person. I’ve never been bored in my life.

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.

As a blind man has no idea of colors, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things.

‚Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.

Being brought up very religious, I have a fear of people that look to idol gods.

We think that life develops spontaneously on Earth, so it must be possible for life to develop on suitable planets elsewhere in the universe. But we don’t know the probability that a planet develops life.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

The Christian’s Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same, but the medical practice changes.

I always tell people that religious institutions and political institutions should be separate. So while I’m telling people this, I myself continue with them combined. Hypocrisy!

Tourism is a very big economic benefit to the Sherpa people, and also, they have very strong ties to their own social attitudes and their own religion, so fortunately, they’re not too influenced by many of our Western attitudes.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.

Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Each man is always in the middle of the surface of the earth and under the zenith of his own hemisphere, and over the centre of the earth.

I think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but the Bible also teaches that pride is a sin, jealousy is a sin, and hate is a sin, evil thoughts are a sin. So I don’t think that homosexuality should be chosen as the overwhelming sin that we are doing today.