Richard Dawkins - Christopher Hitchens - Stephen Hawking - Carl Sagan - Derrick Jensen - Isaiah 66:4 - Thomas Paine - Bhagavad Gita - Charles Manson - Friedrich Durrenmatt - Thomas Quackenbush - Ludwig Wittgenstein - Jim Whitefield - Ezra Booth - Daniel C Dennett - J G Ballard - Robert Tressell - Michael Mosley TV - H L Mencken - Alan Barth -
God in the sense defined is an delusion ... a pernicious delusion. Professor Richard Dawkins, lecture The God Delusion, Lynchburg Virginia
A delusion is something that people believe in despite a total lack of evidence. Richard Dawkins
This state of denial is extraordinary. Even when confronted by hard fact, these dowsers prefer not to face up to truth but retain their delusion. Richard Dawkins, Enemies of Reason: Slaves to Superstition, Channel 4 2007
Why does this delusion persist? ... I think it’s to do with wishful thinking. Christopher Hitchens v Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, debate New York January 2008
Perhaps I am deluded about my own free will. Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design: The Meaning of Life, Discovery 2012
For me it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
A primary purpose of the police is to enforce the delusions of those with lots of green paper. Derrick Jensen, Endgame I: The Problem of Civilisation
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them. Isaiah 66:4
It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error. Thomas Paine, An Essay on Dream
Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed. Bhagavad Gita
What a mad delusion,
Livin’ in that confusion. Charles Manson, lyrics ‘Look at Your Game, Girl’
Truth is always a delusion. Friedrich Durrenmatt
We want our delusions and will violently defend these when confronted. We want to believe that the job that is slowly choking us is good, because the effort it would take to change is too terrifying to contemplate. We never want to hear how badly we are being treated in a relationship because we are strong and how dare you suggest we don’t know better. Thomm Quackenbush, Pagan Standard Times: Essays on the Craft
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself. Ludwig Wittgenstein
As long as people want the Mormon Church to be true, more than they are willing to face the possibility that it is not, they will not entertain evidence or reason. Delusion becomes a choice. Jim Whitefield
It has taught me quite beyond my knowledge, the imbecility of human nature, and especially my own weakness. It has unfolded in its proper character, a delusion to which I had fallen a victim, and taught me the humiliating truth, that I was exerting the powers of both my mind and body, and sacrificing my time and property, to build up a system of delusion, almost unparalleled in the annals of the world. Ezra Booth, letter to Reverend Ira Eddy 1831 re Mormonism
I listen to all these complaints about rudeness and intemperateness, and the opinion that I come to is that there is no polite way of asking somebody: have you considered the possibility that your entire life has been devoted to a delusion? But that’s a good question to ask. Of course we should ask that question and of course it’s going to offend people. Tough. Daniel C Dennett
Tourism is the great soporific. It’s a huge confidence trick, and gives people the dangerous idea that there’s something interesting in their lives. It’s musical chairs in reverse ... All the upgrades in existence lead to the same airports and resort hotels, the same pina colada bullshit. The tourists smile at their tans and their shiny teeth and think they're happy. But the suntans hide who they really are – salary slaves, with heads full of American rubbish. Travel is the last fantasy the 20th Century left us, the delusion that going somewhere helps you reinvent yourself. J G Ballard, Millennium People
All these people are suffering from the delusion that it doesn’t matter what kind of work they do – of whether they merely do nothing – so long as they get money for doing it. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
[B F] Skinner applied his ideas to human behaviour. What Skinner was saying is that we are many ways like pigeons. That we are the product of the numerous interactions we have with our environment ... We can no more exercise free-will than this pigeon decides to peck or indeed turn in a circle. We could change people’s behaviour for the better by changing their environment ... To Skinner free-will was a delusion. Michael Mosley, The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion, BBC 2010
Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another. H L Mencken, Chrestomathy, 1949
Thought that is silenced is always rebellious. Majorities of course are often mistaken. This is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous. Criticism and dissent are the indispensable antidote to major delusions. Alan Barth