While I have life, as long as I draw breath, I shall deny with all my strength, and hate with every drop of my blood, this infinite lie. Robert G Ingersoll
If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the imaginations of men ... What right have you, sir, Mr clergyman, you, minister of the gospel to stand at the portals of the tomb, at the vestibule of eternity, and fill the future with horror and with fear? I do not believe this doctrine, neither do you. If you did, you could not sleep one moment. Any man who believes it, and has within his breast a decent, throbbing heart, will go insane. A man who believes that doctrine and does not go insane has the heart of a snake and the conscience of a hyena. Robert G Ingersoll, The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child
The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be believed only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called faith. Robert G Ingersoll
What I said was that teaching children that they will roast in Hell could under some circumstances be worse than physical abuse, in the sense that it may last longer. Richard Dawkins, In Confidence, 2010
It’s deeply disturbing to think that there are believers out there who actively use the idea of Hell for moral policing. Richard Dawkins, The Root of All Evil? The Virus of Faith, Channel 4 2006
Why should Belief determine whether we’re dumped in Hell? esias
A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumour. Aldous Huxley
I believe I am in Hell, therefore I am. Arthur Rimbaud
The road to hell isn’t paved with gold, it’s paved with faith. Faith in a dollar that’s backed by a belief that people have faith in other people’s belief in it. Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not for Sale
Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee hither. William Shakespeare, III Henry VI V vi 67
Thou cam’st on earth to make the earth my hell ...
What comfortable hour canst thou name
That ever graced me in thy company? William Shakespeare, Richard III IV iv 167 & 174-175, Duchess of York to King Richard
What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roared in dismal hell. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet III ii 43-44, Juliet to Nurse
I’ll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream II i 243
See the hell of having a false woman! William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor II ii 281, Ford to Sir John
When I to sulphurus and tormenting flames
Must render up myself. William Shakespeare, Hamlet I v 5-6, Ghost to Hamlet
Till the crimes done in my days of nature ...
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres. ibid. I v 12&15-17
She like a liar gone to burning hell. (Lies & Hell) William Shakespeare, Othello V ii 138
O ill-starred wrench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl,
Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight.
Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur,
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire! ibid. V ii @282, Othello
There’s hell, there’s darkness,
There’s the sulphury pit, burning, scalding,
Stench, consummation. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear IV v 122-124, Lear
The floery way that leads to the broad gate and the great fire. William Shakespeare, All’s Well That End’s Well IV v 58
This place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further: I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. William Shakespeare, Macbeth II iii 19
Did heaven look on
And would not take their part? ibid. IV iii 225-226 MacDuff
This is a test to see where we spend our life – heaven or hell. Muhammad Ali, interview Reg Gutteridge, film When Ali Came to Newcastle
The most important thing about life is what’s going to happen when you die. Are you going to go to Heaven or Hell? And there’s eternity: how long is eternity? ibid.
We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell. Oscar Wilde
Hell is – other people. (People & Hell) Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit, 1944
There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women. Madeleine Albright
The whole place is beyond Bedlam. It makes you want to scream for help. It’s a disaster area. It’s a nest of vipers. It’s a zoo of incurables. And the work is just the same day over and over again ... It’s monotonous. Like waves. Chekhov: Comedy Shorts: A Reluctant Tragic Hero starring Johnny Vegas & Mackenzie Crook, Vegas
To die hating them, that was freedom. George Orwell, 1984
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is there must we ever be. Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus 1604
Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it. ibid.
I would prefer an intelligent hell to a stupid paradise. Blaise Pascal
An enormous flying creature born out of a raging inferno. A vicious three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hell. And mysterious sea serpents terrorising mankind. Are such monsters merely mythical creatures of fantasy or did they actually exist in the ancient past? Ancient Aliens s3e2: Aliens and Monsters, History 2011
There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that he believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did believe in everlasting punishment, and one does find repeatedly a vindictive fury against those people who would not listen to his preaching – an attitude which is not uncommon with preachers, but which does somewhat detract from superlative excellence. You do not, for instance find that attitude in Socrates. You find him quite bland and urbane toward the people who would not listen to him; and it is, to my mind, far more worthy of a sage to take that line than to take the line of indignation. Bertrand Russell, lecture Why I am Not a Christian
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell. Bertrand Russell
The Christians believed that when they went to Hell they would be tortured. But not just tortured so as to inflict maximum pain, but tortured in a way that was appropriate for the sin that they committed. Jeff Wise, author Extreme Fear
When you look at human history few ideas have more captivated us, terrified us, motivated us, than the idea of Hell. Hell is one of mankind’s most ancient creations. And it continues to be one of the most powerful ideas we have. Geff Wise
Those who call it [Hell] Christian pornography may not be far from the mark. Dennis MacDonald, Claremont School of Theology