1697 "In fact, when you get right down to it, almost every explanation Man came up with for *anything* until about 1926 was stupid." [Dave Barry]

2863 "Try this," she said, "it can't hurt. A simple experiment, and who knows? It might mean a lot to you in the future." She handed me a pocket Bible, which she carried at all times. "Open it randomly to a passage and read what's written here." I don't know how I managed, but I kept sober as I read the passage chance had sent me. "Does it mean something to you?" I nodded gravely, and handed the passage to Todd. He had to leave the room to keep from bursting. Exodus 22, xviv: Whosoever copulateth with a beast shall be put to death." [Richard Powers, _The Gold Bug Variations_]

529 "ASCII a stupid question, get a stupid ANSI!"

2831 "A tendency to drastically underestimate the frequency of coincidence is a prime characteristic of innumerates, who generally accord great significance to correspondences of all sorts while attributing too little significance to quite conclusive but less flashy statistical evidence." [John Allen Paulos, mathematics professor, in "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences"]

837 "Nothing that results from human progress is achieved with unanimous consent. And those who are enlightened before the others are forced to pursue that light in spite of others."

743 "We are Borg sheep, resistance is futile, you will be... Ooh look, fresh grass."

1080 "To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world, is just as base as to use force." -- Hypatia (c. 370-415 CE)

2599 "It is scandalous that any modern, intelligent, well- educated person should believe in Christianity." [Delos B. McKown, Ph.D., U.S. professor, philosopher, author, Former clergyman]

1620 "You can't kill the truth...Actually you can kill the truth, but it always comes back to haunt you" Sheridan, Babylon 5. Contributed by Larry Reyka.

289 "If you are ethical only because you believe in God, you are buying your ticket to heaven or trying to tear up your ticket to hell. In either case, you are just being a shrewd profiteer, nothing else. The idea of being ethical is to be ethical for no reason except that that is the way to be if you want the world to run smoothly. I think that people who say virtue is its own reward or honesty is the best policy have the right idea." -- Isaac Asimov

3631 "In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite."

2641 "It is only the savage, whether of the African bush or of the American gospel tent, who pretends to know the will and intent of God exactly and completely." [H.L. Mencken]

1509 "... This brings us to our familiar resting place. The 'goodness' of God is different in kind from goodness as we comprehend it. To say that God's 'goodness' is compatible with the worst disasters imaginable, is to empty this concept of its meaning. By human standards, the Christian God cannot be good. By divine standards, God may be 'good' in some unspecified, unknowable way - but this term no longer makes any sense. And so, for the last time, we fail to comprehend the Christian God." George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989), p. 87.

1587 "We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true." Robert Wilensky

2950 "But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes." [Jean Jacques Rousseau, Contract Social (The Social Contract)]

1781 "Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof" [Ashley Montague]

2916 "We care not about rights. We spread our beliefs according to what our God tells us to. Simple as that. We don't struggle for rights." [Christopher N. Roberts (cnr1@erc.msstate.edu) on alt.atheism]

1962 "Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches." [Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologica]

3034 "Colfax. A bishop joined throngs of people packing a Placer County church to see a shining image on the wall that devout Catholics claim is an apparition of the Virgin Mary. ... 'It could be the image of the Blessed Mary in a silhouette pose,' Bishop Francis Quinn of the Sacramento Diocese said Tuesday. ... The image has been appearing for about an hour each morning since Thanksgiving, bringing throngs of the devout and curious to the 40- year-old church along Interstate 80 northeast of Auburn. ... Some viewers say the image, which also resembles the profile of a rabbit head, could be a reflection from a stained glass window. ... 'For those who believe, no explanation is necessary,' Quinn said. 'And for those who not believe, no explanation is possible.'" [Press Democrat, 6 December 1990 (AP)]

773 "If God didn't have a sense of humor -- where did the Christians come from?"