Friday, December 16, 2011

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

God is not great. Christopher Hitchens is. 


Leave your favorite Hitch quotes in the comments. Check 'Hitchens' the tag/label for other Hitch goodness. It's OK to mourn. 


Part I



Part II

6 comments:

Steve said...

On the death of TV evangelist Jerry Falwell:

"If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox"

Steve said...

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

Adam said...

"Faith is the surrender of the mind; it's the surrender of reason, it's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It's our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated. "

Jason said...

Exceptional claims require exceptional evidence. - Hitch

Anda companion quote:

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. - Hitch

On Religion:

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it. - Hitch

Religion has run out of justifications. - Hitch

If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox. - Hitch

And this one:

The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks. - Hitch

I didn't always agree with what Hitch thought, but I will forever admire the way he thought. While I cannot thank him, I am thankful for all he did.

Jason said...

Oh. Steve, you already got two of mine.

Let me provide a few more:

Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience. - Hitch

Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you. - Hitch

Steve said...

When a Christian claimed that God had given him "throat" cancer to punish the "one part of his body he used for blasphemy", he replied: "My so-far uncancerous throat... is not at all the only organ with which I have blasphemed."