“What Pascal overlooked was the hair-raising possibility that God might out-Luther Luther. A special area in hell might be reserved for those who go to mass. Or God might punish those whose faith is prompted by prudence. Perhaps God prefers… — 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… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
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… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
“Not all deceptions are palatable. Untruths are too easy to come by, too quickly exploded, too cheap and ephemeral to give lasting comfort. Mundus… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
Let people who do not know what to do with themselves in this life, but fritter away their time reading magazines and watching television,… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
“The Golden Rule is intolerable; if millions did to others whatever they wished others to do to them, few would be safe from molestation.… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
To try to fashion something from suffering, to relish our triumphs, and to endure defeats without resentment: all that is compatible with the faith… — Walter Kaufmann Copy Share Image
