--- title: "4 Dogma Quotes By Tom Robbins" description: "4 Dogma quotes by Tom Robbins. Plus more from Tom Robbins and more Dogma sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg" --- > [Deep down, all of us are probably aware that some kind of mystical evolution is our true task. Yet we suppress the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-that-some-kind-of-mystical/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg) > [The Divine was expansive, but religion was reductive. Religion attempted to reduce the Divine to a knowable quantity with which mortals might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-was-reductive-religion/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ab/tom-robbins-169_deals_the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-wa_1403429.jpg) > [“...ideas are definitely unstable, they not only CAN be misused, they invite misuse--and the better the idea the more volatile it is.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-only-can-be-misused-they/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68f/tom-robbins-169_ideas_ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-o_1513923.jpg) > [“Pious dogma, if allowed to flourish, will always drive magic away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will-always-drive-magic-away/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/tom-robbins-169_dogma_pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will_2453008.jpg) ## Other authors on Dogma - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bertrand-russell-17477.jpg) Bertrand Russell 15 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/bertrand-russell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-gilbert-k-chesterton-38545.jpg) Gilbert K. Chesterton 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/gilbert-k-chesterton/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-sam-harris-82504.jpg) Sam Harris 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/sam-harris/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-jefferson-90435.jpg) Thomas Jefferson 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/thomas-jefferson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-robert-green-ingersoll-79794.jpg) Robert Green Ingersoll 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/robert-green-ingersoll/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-rock-cowles-2590.jpg) Rock Cowles 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/rock-cowles/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/abhijit-naskar/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b002/author-robert-g-ingersoll-4527.jpg) Robert G. Ingersoll 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/robert-g-ingersoll/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-g-k-chesterton-224.jpg) G.K. Chesterton 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/g-k-chesterton/) ## More by Tom Robbins > [There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. But a knob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/there-are-times-when-we-can-feel-destiny-close-around-us-like-a-fist/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/love-is-the-ultimate-outlaw-it-just-won-t-adhere-to-any-rules-the/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-world-is-a-wonderfully-weird-place-consensual-reality-is/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Anyone who maintains absolute standards of good and evil is dangerous. As dangerous as a maniac with a loaded revolver.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/anyone-who-maintains-absolute-standards-of-good-and-evil-is-dangerous/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [“I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred. Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/i-believe-in-everything-nothing-is-sacred-i-believe-in-nothing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [A sense of humor...is superior to any religion so far devised.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/a-sense-of-humor-is-superior-to-any-religion-so-far-devised/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/love-is-the-ultimate-outlaw-it-just-won-t-adhere-to-any-rules-the-2/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [“The glue that holds the natural world together appears to be a harmonious balance of opposites: day and night, light and dark, winter and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-glue-that-holds-the-natural-world-together-appears-to-be-a/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Zippers are primal and modern at the very same time. On the one hand, your zipper is primitive and reptilian, on the other, mechanical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/zippers-are-primal-and-modern-at-the-very-same-time-on-the-one-hand/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [“religion is a paramount contributor to human misery. It is not merely the opium of the masses, it is the cyanide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/religion-is-a-paramount-contributor-to-human-misery-it-is-not-merely/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [She continued weeping until the heat of her tear water, the sheer velocity of its flow, finally obscured the already vague circumstances of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/she-continued-weeping-until-the-heat-of-her-tear-water-the-sheer/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-bottom-line-is-that-a-people-are-never-perfect-but-love-can-be-b/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Virtually every advancement made by our species since civilization first peeked out of its nest of stone has been initiated by lone individuals, mavericks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/virtually-every-advancement-made-by-our-species-since-civilization/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [When we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/when-we-accept-small-wonders-we-qualify-ourselves-to-imagine-great/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/tom-robbins/#itemlist", "name": "4 Dogma Quotes By Tom Robbins", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Deep down, all of us are probably aware that some kind of mystical evolution is our true task. Yet we suppress the notion with considerable force because to admit it is to admit that most of our political gyrations, religious dogmas, social ambitions, and financial ploys are not merely counter-productive but trivial.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Robbins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-that-some-kind-of-mystical/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Deep down, all of us are probably aware that some kind of mystical evolution is our true task. 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With hammers of cant and spikes of dogma, we crucified and crucified again, trying to nail to our stationary altars the migratory light of the world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Robbins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-was-reductive-religion/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ab/tom-robbins-169_deals_the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-wa_1403429.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ab/tom-robbins-169_deals_the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-wa_1403429.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ab/tom-robbins-169_deals_the-divine-was-expansive-but-religion-wa_1403429.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Divine was expansive, but religion was reductive. Religion attempted to reduce the Divine to a knowable…” — Tom Robbins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...ideas are definitely unstable, they not only CAN be misused, they invite misuse--and the better the idea the more volatile it is. That's because only the better ideas turn into dogma, and it is this process whereby a fresh, stimulating, humanly helpful idea is changed into robot dogma that is deadly. In terms of hazardous vectors released, the transformation of ideas into dogma rivals the transformation of hydrogen into helium, uranium into lead, or innocence into corruption. And it is nearly as relentless. The problem starts at the secondary level, not with the originator or developer of the idea but with the people who are attracted by it, who adopt it, who cling to it until their last nail breaks, and who invariably lack the overview, flexibility, imagination, and most importantly, sense of humor, to maintain it in the spirit in which it was hatched. Ideas are made by masters, dogma by disciples, and the Buddha is always killed on the road. There is a particularly unattractive and discouragingly common affliction called tunnel vision, which, for all the misery it causes, ought to top the job list at the World Health Organization. Tunnel vision is a disease in which perception is restricted by ignorance and distorted by vested interest. Tunnel vision is caused by an optic fungus that multiplies when the brain is less energetic than the ego. It is complicated by exposure to politics. When a good idea is run through the filters and compressors of ordinary tunnel vision, it not only comes out reduced in scale and value but in its new dogmatic configuration produces effects the opposite of those for which it originally was intended. That is how the loving ideas of Jesus Christ became the sinister cliches of Christianity. That is why virtually every revolution in history has failed: the oppressed, as soon as they seize power, turn into the oppressors, resorting to totalitarian tactics to \"protect the revolution.\" That is why minorities seeking the abolition of prejudice become intolerant, minorities seeking peace become militant, minorities seeking equality become self-righteous, and minorities seeking liberation become hostile (a tight asshole being the first symptom of self-repression).”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Robbins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-only-can-be-misused-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68f/tom-robbins-169_ideas_ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-o_1513923.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68f/tom-robbins-169_ideas_ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-o_1513923.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68f/tom-robbins-169_ideas_ideas-are-definitely-unstable-they-not-o_1513923.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...ideas are definitely unstable, they not only CAN be misused, they invite misuse--and the better the idea…” — Tom Robbins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Pious dogma, if allowed to flourish, will always drive magic away.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Robbins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will-always-drive-magic-away/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/tom-robbins-169_dogma_pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will_2453008.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/tom-robbins-169_dogma_pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will_2453008.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/tom-robbins-169_dogma_pious-dogma-if-allowed-to-flourish-will_2453008.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Pious dogma, if allowed to flourish, will always drive magic away.” — Tom Robbins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/tom-robbins/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/tom-robbins/", "name": "Dogma Quotes by Tom Robbins", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/tom-robbins/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/tom-robbins-169_ambition_deep-down-all-of-us-are-probably-aware-t_966069.jpg" }, "description": "4 Dogma quotes by Tom Robbins. 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