Karen Armstrong

“the Golden Rule, which asks us to look into our own hearts, discover what gives us pain, and then refuse, under any…

— Karen Armstrong

In order to always treat others, as we would wish to be treated ourselves, we have to learn about each other. Not…

— Karen Armstrong

Often when religious leaders come together, they talk about a particular sexual ethic, or an abstruse doctrine, as though this, rather than…

— Karen Armstrong

I'm seeking to make sense of life, looking for its meaning and how we can have a better humanity.

— Karen Armstrong

Let's use our stories to encourage listening to one another and to hear not just the good news, but also the pain…

— Karen Armstrong

“Our neocortex has made us meaning-seeking creatures, acutely aware of the perplexity and tragedy of our predicament, and if we do not…

— Karen Armstrong

“The Quran did not put forward any philosophical arguments for monotheism; its approach was practical, and, as such, it appealed to the…

— Karen Armstrong

We should probably all pause to confront our past from time to time, because it changes its meaning as our circumstances alter.

— Karen Armstrong

“it is neither helpful nor accurate to assume that other people are always responsible for our pain.”

— Karen Armstrong

I learned a lot from both, initially Jewish and Muslim theologians that had been missing, perhaps from my rather parochial Catholic upbringing.

— Karen Armstrong

The values of Islam are expressed by Muslims clearly. September 11 changed the world, and put Muslims on the spotlight.

— Karen Armstrong

Myth was regarded as primary; it was concerned with what was thought to be timeless and constant in our existence. Myth looked…

— Karen Armstrong

“You entered into a Socratic dialogue in order to change; the object of the exercise was to create a new, more authentic…

— Karen Armstrong

“Auschwitz was a dark epiphany, providing us with a terrible vision of what life is like when all sense of the sacred…

— Karen Armstrong

“He insisted that it was impossible to understand a single word of the Book of Nature without knowing the language of mathematics.”

— Karen Armstrong

“Compassion can be defined, therefore, as an attitude of principled, consistent altruism. The”

— Karen Armstrong

I believe in holiness and sacredness in other people. It doesn't mean that the clouds part and I see God. That's a…

— Karen Armstrong

We have domesticated God's transcendence. We often learn about God at about the same time as we are learning about Santa Claus;…

— Karen Armstrong

The constant reprimands made me hyperconscious of my own performance, and so instead of getting rid of self, I had become embedded…

— Karen Armstrong

Today we often think that before we start living a religious life we have first to accept the creedal doctrines and that…

— Karen Armstrong

Like art, religion is an imaginative and creative effort to find a meaning and value in human life.

— Karen Armstrong

“Remember that in a threatening environment, the human brain becomes permanently organized for aggression.”

— Karen Armstrong

And so, one of the reasons why I started my Charter for Compassion, was to bring the Golden Rule back to the…

— Karen Armstrong

It is people who are violent, rather than "religions"; and since we secularised our politics we have had two major world wars,…

— Karen Armstrong

Religions don't own compassion; it is a human virtue.

— Karen Armstrong