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2009 Quote by Christopher Hitchens

““This is what you get when you found a political system on the family values of Henry VIII. At a point in the not-too-remote future, the stout heart of Queen Elizabeth II will cease to beat. At that precise moment, her firstborn son will become head of state, head of the armed forces, and head of the Church of England. In strict constitutional terms, this ought not to matter much. The English monarchy, as has been said, reigns but does not rule. From the aesthetic point of view it will matter a bit, because the prospect of a morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts, is a distinctly lowering one.””

Christopher Hitchens

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More by Christopher Hitchens

“The spirit of our accurate and exact philosophy is outraged by conclusions that contradict each other so glaringly.”

Christopher Hitchens

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“Many governments employ torture but this was the first time that the element of Saturnalia and pornography in the process had been made so clear to me. If you care to imagine what any inadequate or cruel man might do, given unlimited power over a woman, then anything that you can bring yourself to suspect was what became routine in…

Christopher Hitchens

It's [Los Angeles] mostly full of nonsense and delusion and egomania. They think they'll be young and beautiful forever, even though most of them…

Christopher Hitchens

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To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning.

Christopher Hitchens

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[Religion] attacks us in our deepest integrity - the core of our self-respect. Religion says that we would not know right from wrong, we would not know an evil, wicked act from a decent human act without divine permission, without divine authority or without, even worse, either the fear of a divine punishment or the hope of a divine reward.…

Christopher Hitchens

“In the very recent past, we have seen the Church of Rome befouled by its complicity with the unpardonable sin of child rape, or,…

Christopher Hitchens

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It's surprising to me how many of my friends send Christmas cards, or holiday cards, including my atheist and secular friends.

Christopher Hitchens

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Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: 'Don't be a mug…

Christopher Hitchens

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There are, after all, atheists who say they wish the fable were true but are unable to suspend the requisite disbelief, or who have…

Christopher Hitchens

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“It isn’t so long since a test of Anglican orthodoxy was applied to anyone seeking to study or teach at Oxford and Cambridge universities. One of the most celebrated victims of this theocratic policy was Shelley (1792-1811) who was expelled from University College, Oxford, for writing a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism. He and his poetry were much influenced…

Christopher Hitchens

Gullibility and credulity are considered undesireable qualities in every department of human life - except religion ... Why are we praised by godly men…

Christopher Hitchens

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It's much worse to see a woman drunk than a man: I don't know quite why this is true but it just is. Don't…

Christopher Hitchens

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More 2009 quotes

“Neoclassical economics has effectively insulated itself from the great advances made in science and engineering over the last 40 years. This self-imposed isolation must come to an end. For while the concepts of neoclassical economics appear difficult, they are actually quaint in comparison to the sophistication evident in today's mathematics, engineering, computing, evolutionary biology and physics. In order to advance,…

“I spent a lot of time in Arcadia when I worked there in 2009.”

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“The fallacy that dynamic processes must be modeled as if the system is in continuous equilibrium is probably the most important reason for the intellectual failure of neoclassical economics. Mathematics, science and engineering developed tools long ago to model outside of equilibrium processes. This dynamic approach to thinking about the economy should become second nature to economists.”

“Weddings are great, but they mostly end up in marriages and that is the problem.”

Radovan Kavický

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“I really look forward to that insane hour that we spend together. I really do.”

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“Prezraď mi najväčších inzerentov v tvojom obľúbenom printovom médiu a ja ti poviem, čo čítaš i čo nečítaš.”

Radovan Kavický

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“True creativity is inherently destructive, and truly creative individuals always, without exception, seek to destroy the mediums they work within.”

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“An essential pedagogic step here is to relegate the teaching of mathematical methods in economics to mathematics departments. Any mathematical training in economics, if…

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“I was the manager of the largest solar photovoltaic power system in the USA in 2009.”

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“Remember one thing as South Africa prepares to go to the polls this week and the world grapples with the ascendancy of the African…

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“You don’t have to dumb it down, but you do have to sum it up.”

Charles M. Blow

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“As Thorstein Veblen correctly surmised over a century ago, the failure of economics to become an evolutionary science is the product of the optimizing…

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Browse all 19 2009 quotes