--- title: "3 Convincing Quotes By Philip Pullman" description: "3 Convincing quotes by Philip Pullman. Plus more from Philip Pullman and more Convincing sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/philip-pullman-525_christian_the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerfu_1356695.png" --- > [The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerful-and-convincing-mistake/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/philip-pullman-525_christian_the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerfu_1356695.png) > [I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-glory-of-god-till-i-saw-there/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/philip-pullman-525_christian_i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-g_1543621.jpg) > [Gradually, at various points in our childhoods, we discover different forms of conviction. There's the rock-hard certainty of personal experience ("I put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/gradually-at-various-points-in-our-childhoods-we-discover-different/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/philip-pullman-525_certainty_gradually-at-various-points-in-our-child_1846856.jpg) ## More by Philip Pullman > [The state of mind which I put myself when I tell a story is one in which superstition flourishes very easily. And I welcome…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-state-of-mind-which-i-put-myself-when-i-tell-a-story-is-one-in/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/religion-grants-its-adherents-malign-intoxicating-and-morally/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/we-don-t-need-lists-of-rights-and-wrongs-tables-of-do-s-and-don-ts-we/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [I have stolen ideas from every book I have ever read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/i-have-stolen-ideas-from-every-book-i-have-ever-read/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [All the stories of the Bible that I know came to me first from my grandfather's lips... He would see stories in everything. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/all-the-stories-of-the-bible-that-i-know-came-to-me-first-from-my/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/what-i-do-say-is-that-i-can-write-verse-and-that-the-writing-of-verse/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Writing is tyranny ... but reading is democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/writing-is-tyranny-but-reading-is-democracy/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“Middlemarch is a novel that is diminished by being put on the screen. It can't help but be, because so much of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/middlemarch-is-a-novel-that-is-diminished-by-being-put-on-the-screen/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/i-have-maintained-a-passionate-interest-in-education-which-leads-me/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [And think what worrying does: has anyone ever added a single hour to the length of his life by worrying about it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/and-think-what-worrying-does-has-anyone-ever-added-a-single-hour-to/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“The question authors get asked more than any other is "Where do you get your ideas from?" And we all find a way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-question-authors-get-asked-more-than-any-other-is-where-do-you/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not,” said the witch, “or die of despair.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/we-are-all-subject-to-the-fates-but-we-must-all-act-as-if-we-are-not/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Lonely? I don't know. They tell me this is cold. I don't know what cold is, because I don't freeze. So I don't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/lonely-i-don-t-know-they-tell-me-this-is-cold-i-don-t-know-what-cold/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Just finished 'Secrecy' - truly enthralling both as a love story and as a tale of suspense - but much more than both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/just-finished-secrecy-truly-enthralling-both-as-a-love-story-and-as-a/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“As Auden is believed to have said, no poem saved a single Jew from the gas chambers. Never mind. Write the poems anyway. Play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/as-auden-is-believed-to-have-said-no-poem-saved-a-single-jew-from-the/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convincing/philip-pullman/#itemlist", "name": "3 Convincing Quotes By Philip Pullman", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Pullman" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerful-and-convincing-mistake/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/philip-pullman-525_christian_the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerfu_1356695.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/philip-pullman-525_christian_the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerfu_1356695.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/philip-pullman-525_christian_the-christian-religion-is-a-very-powerfu_1356695.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.” — Philip Pullman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Pullman" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-glory-of-god-till-i-saw-there/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/philip-pullman-525_christian_i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-g_1543621.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/philip-pullman-525_christian_i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-g_1543621.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/philip-pullman-525_christian_i-thought-physics-could-be-done-to-the-g_1543621.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics…” — Philip Pullman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Gradually, at various points in our childhoods, we discover different forms of conviction. There's the rock-hard certainty of personal experience (\"I put my finger in the fire and it hurt,\"), which is probably the earliest kind we learn. Then there's the logically convincing, which we probably come to first through maths, in the context of Pythagoras's theorem or something similar, and which, if we first encounter it at exactly the right moment, bursts on our minds like sunrise with the whole universe playing a great chord of C Major.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Pullman" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/gradually-at-various-points-in-our-childhoods-we-discover-different/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/philip-pullman-525_certainty_gradually-at-various-points-in-our-child_1846856.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/philip-pullman-525_certainty_gradually-at-various-points-in-our-child_1846856.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/philip-pullman-525_certainty_gradually-at-various-points-in-our-child_1846856.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Gradually, at various points in our childhoods, we discover different forms of conviction. 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