#myths

I just wish this social institution [religion] wasn't based on what appears to me to be a monumental hoax built on an accumulation of customs and myths directed toward proving something that isn't true. ↗

— Andy Rooney

#customs #falsehood #falsehoods #hoax #institutions

The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. These subtilised interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. ↗

— Albert Einstein

#belief #myths #superstition #weakness #nature

And in "Elbow Room" the cast sings the glories of westward expansion in the United States, which involved the murder of native peoples and the violent conquest of half of Mexico. Among the lines in the song is one that intones, "There were plenty of fights / To win land right / But the West was meant to be / It was our Manifest Destiny?" Let it suffice to say that happily belting out a tune in which one merrily praises genocide is always easier for those whose ancestors weren't on the receiving end of the deal. ↗

— Tim Wise

#kids #myths #racism #racism

But, said Lewis, myths are lies, even though lies breathed through silver. No, said Tolkien, they are not. ...just as speech is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth. We have come from God (continued Tolkien), and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil. You mean, asked Lewis, that the story of Christ is simply a true myth, a myth that works on us in the same way as the others, but a myth that really happened? In that case, he said, I begin to understand. ↗

— Humphrey Carpenter

#christ #myth #myths #splintered-light #sub-creator

Vampires were myths, childhood stories– as were werewolves, mermaids and dragons. I believed none of it. ↗

— Ashley Madau

#dragon #dragons #mermaid-romance #mermaids #morningside

I want to clear up a few myths about myself. People have written that I was a kindergarten teacher and a former Miss Texas, and neither is true. ↗

— Krista Allen

#clear #few #former #i #kindergarten

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder. ↗

— Thomas Aquinas

#arises #awe #because #being #big

The dogma of woman's complete historical subjection to men must be rated as one of the most fantastic myths ever created by the human mind. ↗

— Mary Ritter Beard

#created #dogma #ever #fantastic #historical

I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the literary scene. ↗

— Harold Bloom

#decline #even #i #literary #myths

Because of my Marxism, I was not into myths or miracles, whether it was the virgin birth, the physical resurrection or casting out demons from an epileptic. ↗

— Lionel Blue

#birth #casting #demons #i #into