SUPERSTITION QUOTES III

quotations about superstition

Superstition quote

Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

JOHN ADAMS

letter to John Quincy Adams, November 13, 1816

Tags: John Adams


The master of superstition, is the people; and in all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Superstition", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: Francis Bacon


For a set of supposedly irrational beliefs, superstitions have a surprisingly large following.

JULIANA LABIANCA

"Why Do You Believe in Superstitions? Here's What the Science Says", Reader's Digest, December 29, 2016


The quaking bystanders in a superstitious age would soon have slain an isolated bold man in the beginning of his innovations.

WALTER BAGEHOT

Physics and Politics

Tags: Walter Bagehot


In doing practically only the things which He testifies He cares nothing about, superstition neglects those which He has ordained and said are pleasing to Him or even openly rejects them. Therefore those who (in order to worship God) establish religions which have their source in their own minds, only worship their own dreams.

JOHN CALVIN

Institutes of the Christian Religion

Tags: John Calvin


The most infallible mark of ignorance is superstition.

STANISLAUS

attributed, Day's Collacon


Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

The Brothers Karamazov

Tags: Fyodor Dostoevsky


Take theology from the world, and the money wasted on superstition will do away with want.

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL

Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage


I wish to substitute humanity for superstition, the love of our fellow men, for the fear of God.

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL

Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage


One of the interesting things about superstitions is their seemingly arbitrary nature. Like, why 13? Why black cats? Why can't you walk under that ladder? It has no rational bearing. Yet somehow you feel like you're tempting fate, and the outcome, a bad outcome, that could befall you is going to be worse because you did something that people say you shouldn't do.

TOM GILOVICH

"Why Do You Believe in Superstitions? Here's What the Science Says", Reader's Digest, December 29, 2016


Superstition is the need to view the world in terms of simple cause and effect.

BERNARD BECKETT

Genesis

Tags: Bernard Beckett


Although superstitions might seem like holdovers from a different era, plenty of people believe in them today. According to a Gallup poll, nearly a quarter of Americans admitted to being somewhat superstitious, particularly when it came to traditions like knocking on wood and walking under a ladder. Following these traditions doesn't make you irrational; they're simply part of a culture that gets passed down through the generations. Besides, if there's anything universally beloved by humanity, it's coming up with rituals.

CLAIRE WARNER

"The Origins Of These Common Superstitions Are Absolutely Fascinating", Bustle, January 13, 2017


might be superstition but some kind of somethin'
goin' on down there
it might be superstition but some kind of somethin'
goin' on down there
it's an old time tradition when they play their
drums at night in Congo Square

SONNY LANDRETH

"Congo Square Lyrics"


The general root of superstition: namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

FRANCIS BACON

The Collected Works of Francis Bacon

Tags: Francis Bacon


How weak our mind is; how quickly it is terrified and unbalanced as soon as we are confronted with a small, incomprehensible fact. Instead of dismissing the problem with: "We do not understand because we cannot find the cause," we immediately imagine terrible mysteries and supernatural powers.

GUY DE MAUPASSANT

"The Horla"

Tags: Guy de Maupassant


What if cards don't go my way?
And it's sure to spoil my day
But in voices loud and clear you say to me, "It's only superstition
It's only your imagination
It's only all of the things that you fear and the things from which you can't escape"

COLDPLAY

"Only Superstition", brothers & sisters


Men are probably nearer the essential truth in their superstitions than in their science.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Journal, June 27, 1852

Tags: Henry David Thoreau


Hence, to the realms of Night, dire Demon, hence!
Thy chain of adamant can bind
That little world, the human mind,
And sink its noblest powers to impotence.

SAMUEL RODGERS

Ode to Superstition


Such people as can be prevailed upon to believe that their reason is depraved, may easily be led by the nose, and duped into superstition at the pleasure of those in whom they confide, and there remain from generation to generation: for when they throw by the law of reason the only one which God gave them to direct them in their speculations and duty, they are exposed to ignorant or insidious teachers, and also to their own irregular passions, and to the folly and enthusiasm of those about them, which nothing but reason can prevent or restrain.

ETHAN ALLEN

Reason: The Only Oracle of Man

Tags: Ethan Allen


With their backs to the sunrise they worship the night.

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL

The Gods and Other Lectures