--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have never understood why people who…" description: "\"I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a personal Devil.\" — Graham Greene" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg" --- # I have never understood why people who can swallow the… ![“I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a personal Devil.” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg) > “I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a personal Devil.” [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People accept a benevolent deity but resist the idea of a personal devil, revealing discomfort with evil within. **In simple terms:** People accept God but fear personal evil. Key Takeaway Confront inner darkness honestly. Themes faith evil human psyche belief Mood thoughtful introspective Type theological philosophical When to use this quote - spiritual counseling - self‑reflection - literary analysis Key Concepts theology psychology cognitive dissonance Questions to Reflect On - Why is personal evil unsettling? - How does belief shape moral choices? A Different Perspective Denial of evil can hinder growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Devil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devil/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [“I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a personal Devil. I have known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-can-swallow-the-enormous-2/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“Your personal devil tries three classical approaches : a threat, a promise, and an attack on your weak side.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/your-personal-devil-tries-three-classical-approaches-a-threat-a/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/i-was-not-content-to-believe-in-a-personal-devil-and-serve-him-in-the/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [“... The witness is frequent and insistent that God is inherently relational and personal. So God cannot be either received or understood apart from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-peterson/the-witness-is-frequent-and-insistent-that-god-is-inherently/) [Eugene Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-peterson/) > [The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I am unable to take seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-idea-of-a-personal-god-is-an-anthropological-concept-which-i-am/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“I have a religion, my own religion, and I even have more religion than all of them, with their mummery and hocus-pocus. I adore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/i-have-a-religion-my-own-religion-and-i-even-have-more-religion-than/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [I do not believe in a personal God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/i-do-not-believe-in-a-personal-god/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-cannot-conceive-of-a-personal-god-who-would-directly-influence-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I don't believe in a personal God, no. And I don't believe in resurrection as it is in the New Testament.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melvyn-bragg/i-don-t-believe-in-a-personal-god-no-and-i-don-t-believe-in/) [Melvyn Bragg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melvyn-bragg/) > [About God, I cannot accept any concept based on the authority of the Church... As long as I can remember. I have resented mass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/about-god-i-cannot-accept-any-concept-based-on-the-authority-of-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/to-be-sure-the-doctrine-of-a-personal-god-interfering-with-natural/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [In the end, worship can never be a performance, something you're pretending or putting on. It's got to be an overflow of your heart...Worship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-redman/in-the-end-worship-can-never-be-a-performance-something-you-re/) [Matt Redman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-redman/) > [“This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/this-universe-is-shot-through-with-mystery-the-very-fact-of-its-being/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [Yet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/yet-a-personal-god-can-become-a-grave-liability-he-can-be-a-mere-idol/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“Because of … this concentration of all that is universal and real in one personal being, God is a deeply moving object, enrapturing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-feuerbach/because-of-this-concentration-of-all-that-is-universal-and-real-in/) [Ludwig Feuerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-feuerbach/) ## More by Graham Greene > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/pity-is-cruel-pity-destroys/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Hate is a lack of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/hate-is-a-lack-of-imagination/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/despair-is-the-price-one-pays-for-setting-oneself-an-impossible-aim/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“Knowledge was the great thing--not abstract knowledge in which Dr. Forester had been so rich, the theories which lead one enticingly on with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/knowledge-was-the-great-thing-not-abstract-knowledge-in-which-dr/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [With Your great schemes, You ruin our happiness like a harvester ruins a mouse's nest: I hate You, God, I hate You as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/with-your-great-schemes-you-ruin-our-happiness-like-a-harvester-ruins/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/heresy-is-only-another-word-for-freedom-of-thought/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He had thought that home was something one possessed, but the things one had possessed were cursed with change; it was what one didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-had-thought-that-home-was-something-one-possessed-but-the-things/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-comparison-is-closer-to-the-chinese-cook-who-leaves/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He said, ‘Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/but-we-do-not-love-people-for-what-they-do-for-us-love-happens-to-us/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) [Explore all 550 Graham Greene quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## More Devil quotes > [“The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose, Sergeant,’ Anthony Payne replied. ‘That is from The Merchant of Venice, but it holds great truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-arnold/the-devil-can-cite-scripture-for-his-purpose-sergeant-anthony-payne/) Michael Arnold > [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [“Beauty is not only a terrible thing, it is also a mysterious thing. There God and the Devil strive for mastery, and the battleground…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/beauty-is-not-only-a-terrible-thing-it-is-also-a-mysterious-thing/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [The devil has been defeated, stop trying to defeat him. What we have left is the fight of faith, and it's a good fight!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-oyakhilome/the-devil-has-been-defeated-stop-trying-to-defeat-him-what-we-have/) [Chris Oyakhilome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-oyakhilome/) > [You gonna take the case?" It's not a case. It's a missing person. Sort of." You're gonna have a devil of a time finding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-evanovich/you-gonna-take-the-case-it-s-not-a-case-it-s-a-missing-person-sort-of/) [Janet Evanovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-evanovich/) > [Your head's like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-morrison/your-head-s-like-mine-like-all-our-heads-big-enough-to-contain-every/) [Grant Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-morrison/) > [And so it is, that both the Devil and the angelic Spirit present us with objects of desire to awaken our power of choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/and-so-it-is-that-both-the-devil-and-the-angelic-spirit-present-us/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [Remember that Abraham Lincoln was a Whig far longer than he was a Republican. As a whole, the Whigs looked upon banks and corporations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-c-guelzo/remember-that-abraham-lincoln-was-a-whig-far-longer-than-he-was-a/) [Allen C. Guelzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-c-guelzo/) > [Wine is the first weapon that devils use in attacking the young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/wine-is-the-first-weapon-that-devils-use-in-attacking-the-young/) [St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/) > [“I tend to agree with that little devil more and more these days.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elle-casey/i-tend-to-agree-with-that-little-devil-more-and-more-these-days/) [Elle Casey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elle-casey/) > [This is the gift of your species and this is the danger, because you do not choose to control your imaginings. You imagine wonderful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crichton/this-is-the-gift-of-your-species-and-this-is-the-danger-because-you/) [Michael Crichton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crichton/) > [“The devil?” Jason heaved the tick over his shoulder like a collier with his sack. “Satan. The adversary. The enemy of the plan of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/the-devil-jason-heaved-the-tick-over-his-shoulder-like-a-collier-with/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [God never talks. But the devil keeps advertising, Father. The devil does a lot of commercials.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-peter-blatty/god-never-talks-but-the-devil-keeps-advertising-father-the-devil-does/) [William Peter Blatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-peter-blatty/) > [If it was a sin for you to choose me . . . then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/if-it-was-a-sin-for-you-to-choose-me-then-i-would-go-to-the-devil/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-convincing-the-world-he/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) [Browse all 4,283 Devil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devil/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a personal Devil.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Graham Greene" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-can-swallow-the-enormous/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Devil" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-can-swallow-the-enormous/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/graham-greene-441_devil_i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-c_401181.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have never understood why people who can swallow the enormous improbability of a personal God boggle at a…” — Graham Greene", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Graham Greene", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I have never understood why people...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-can-swallow-the-enormous/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-understood-why-people-who-can-swallow-the-enormous/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```