"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction"
- Blaise Pascal
About this Quote
This quote by Blaise Pascal talks to the power of spiritual conviction in inspiring people to do evil. Pascal recommends that when individuals are driven by spiritual conviction, they are most likely to do evil with a sense of purpose and interest. This is because religious conviction can supply a sense of ethical validation for one's actions, enabling them to do wicked without feeling guilty or remorseful. Moreover, spiritual conviction can offer a sense of community and belonging, which can make it simpler to dedicate wicked acts without feeling isolated or alone. Eventually, Pascal's quote works as a caution versus the dangers of religious conviction, and how it can be utilized to control individuals into doing evil.
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"This, it may be said, is no more than a hypothesis... only of that force of precedent which in all times has been so strong to keep alive religious forms of which the original meaning is lost"
"Well, in The Chosen, Danny Saunders, from the heart of his religious reading of the world, encounters an element in the very heart of the secular readings of the world - Freudian psychoanalytic theory"
"Israel of the coastal plain, where eight out of ten Israeli Jews live far removed from the occupied territories, from the fiery Jerusalem, from the religious and nationalistic conflicts, is unknown to the outside world, almost unknown to itself"
"I believe that nothing enjoys a higher estate in our society than the right given by the First and Fourteenth Amendments freely to practice and proclaim one's religious convictions"
"I guess my religious faith sustained me more than anything else. Family is also very important. If I didn't have children, it would have been too difficult. Even if you are strong, you still need people who would support you all the way"
"I think it's a mother's dream come true to see it work out that way. Not just the mother, but certainly parents, to know that their children have a very solid moral foundation and religious foundation"