George Santayana on atheism

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Trust the man who hesitates in his speech and is quick and steady in action, but beware of long arguments and long beards.

Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.

Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning…

C. S. Lewis1898–1963Mere Christianity

A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere⁠—‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says, ‘fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963Surprised by Joy (1955), Ch. XII: “Guns and Good Company”

If there is a God, atheism must strike Him as less of an insult than religion.

Goncourt brothersJanuary 24, 1868; translation from Robert Baldick (ed. and trans.) Pages from the Goncourt Journal (London: Oxford University Press, 1962) p. 135.

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