Success is no proof of virtue. In the case of a book, quick acclaim is presumptive evidence of a lack of substance and originality. — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
Life ceases to be so oppressive: we are free to give our own lives meaning and purpose, free to redeem our suffering by making… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
Thirdly, even if we assume that the world is governed by purpose, we need only add that this purpose - or, if there are… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
Mundus vult decipi: the world wants to be deceived. The truth is too complex and frightening; the taste for the truth is an acquired… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
It is widely assumed, contrary to fact, that theism necessarily involves the two assumptions which cannot be squared with the existence of so much… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems,… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
“One need not believe in Pallas Athena, the virgin goddess, to be overwhelmed by the Parthenon. Similarly, a man who rejects all dogmas, all theologies and all religious formulations of beliefs may still find Genesis the sublime book par excellence. Experiences and aspirations of which intimations may be found in Plato, Nietzsche, and Spinoza have found their most evocative expression… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share
In all three cases, and for most human beings, the problem of suffering poses no difficult problem at all: one has a world picture… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
The only theism worthy of our respect believes in God not because of the way the world is made but in spite of that.… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
The deepest difference between religions is not that between polytheism and monotheism. — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
Job's forthright indictment of the injustice of this world is surely right. The ways of the world are weird and much more unpredictable than… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
“Renouncing false beliefs will not usher in the millennium. Few things about the strategy of contemporary apologists are more repellent than their frequent recourse to spurious alternatives. The lesser lights inform us that the alternative to Christianity is materialism, thus showing how little they have read, while the greater lights talk as if the alternative were bound to be a… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share
“Not all deceptions are palatable. Untruths are too easy to come by, too quickly exploded, too cheap and ephemeral to give lasting comfort. Mundus vult decipi, but there is a hierarchy of deceptions. Near the bottom of the ladder is journalism: a steady stream of irresponsible distortions that most people find refreshing although on the morning after, or at least… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share
