--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Indeed, the greatest single innovation of…" description: "\"“Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish Inquisition was to turn heresy from a thought-crime into a blood-crime...”\" — Jonathan Kirsch" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg" --- # Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish… ![“Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish Inquisition was to turn heresy from a thought-crime into a blood-crime...” quote by Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg) > ““Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish Inquisition was to turn heresy from a thought-crime into a blood-crime...”” [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The Inquisition changed heresy from a mental offense to a violent one, intensifying persecution. **In simple terms:** Inquisition made heresy a crime punishable by death. Key Takeaway Recognize how redefining crimes can amplify oppression. Themes religion power justice Mood critical historical analytical Type statement historical When to use this quote - historical analysis - human rights law - education on religious tolerance Key Concepts state control moral panic legal definition Questions to Reflect On - What mechanisms allow authorities to reclassify thoughts as crimes? - How does this redefinition affect societal trust? A Different Perspective The shift also depended on existing political motives and public fear. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Inquisition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inquisition/) [Spanish inquisition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spanish-inquisition/) ## Related quotes > [“No offense against moral order was too trivial to escape the attention of the Spanish Inquisition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/no-offense-against-moral-order-was-too-trivial-to-escape-the/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“pro scienta atque sapienta-Latin- for science and wisdom It's a Darwinian popularity contest. at all times, the question on everyone's mind is, "who's coolest?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-vizzini/pro-scienta-atque-sapienta-latin-for-science-and-wisdom-it-s-a/) [Ned Vizzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-vizzini/) > [No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-innes/no-one-expects-the-spanish-inquisition/) [Neil Innes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-innes/) > [After Galileo was convicted (for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition) for his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun, ... he replied, 'Still,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junichiro-koizumi/after-galileo-was-convicted-for-heresy-by-the-spanish-inquisition-for/) [Junichiro Koizumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junichiro-koizumi/) > [This was a good example of the fascist policing of public discourse in this country by nominal liberals who have become as unthinkingly wedded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/this-was-a-good-example-of-the-fascist-policing-of-public-discourse/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [“No one ever expects vaginal arthritis. (Or the Spanish Inquisition).”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-lawson/no-one-ever-expects-vaginal-arthritis-or-the-spanish-inquisition/) [Jenny Lawson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-lawson/) > [“My dear young lady, when you are in love, and jealous, and have been flogged by the Inquisition, there's no knowing what you may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/my-dear-young-lady-when-you-are-in-love-and-jealous-and-have-been/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” —Monty Python’s Flying Circus”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-willis/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition-monty-python-s-flying-circus/) [Connie Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-willis/) > [“Both defenders and opponents of the Inquisition have often accepted without question the image of an omniscient, omnipotent tribunal whose fingers reached into every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-kamen/both-defenders-and-opponents-of-the-inquisition-have-often-accepted/) Henry Kamen > [“Black\_Venus: Here it goes: Curious mosaic Continental drift Parabolic metaphor Elemental rift Time and transposition Conscious intermission Assertion? Desertion -- Black\_Venus: That's all I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-anne-peters/black-venus-here-it-goes-curious-mosaic-continental-drift-parabolic/) [Julie Anne Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-anne-peters/) > [“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monty-python/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition-our-chief-weapon-is-surprise/) [Monty Python](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monty-python/) > [“Her hair was pulled back so severely, it would have won approval from the Spanish Inquisition as a method of torture.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-thomas/her-hair-was-pulled-back-so-severely-it-would-have-won-approval-from/) [Will Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-thomas/) > [No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise, fear and surprise; two chief weapons, fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency! Er, among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-chapman/no-one-expects-the-spanish-inquisition-our-chief-weapon-is-surprise/) [Graham Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-chapman/) > [Socialism" is no more an evil word than "Christianity." Socialism no more prescribed Joseph Stalin and his secret police and shuttered churches than Christianity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/socialism-is-no-more-an-evil-word-than-christianity-socialism-no-more/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) ## More by Jonathan Kirsch > [“No offense against moral order was too trivial to escape the attention of the Spanish Inquisition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/no-offense-against-moral-order-was-too-trivial-to-escape-the/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Like the victims of the historical Inquisition and its other modern equivalents, the men and women who were targeted during the McCarthy era were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/like-the-victims-of-the-historical-inquisition-and-its-other-modern/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Above all, we cannot and should not try to distance ourselves from any of these inquisitions by reassuring ourselves that no abuse of 'moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/above-all-we-cannot-and-should-not-try-to-distance-ourselves-from-any/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Precisely because the Inquisition provides a blueprint for building and operating the machinery of persecution...the Inquisition was and still is a danger to human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/precisely-because-the-inquisition-provides-a-blueprint-for-building/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“The persecutorial impulse - 'the urge to purify the world through the annihilation of some category of human beings as imagined agents of corruption…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/the-persecutorial-impulse-the-urge-to-purify-the-world-through-the/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“...human beings as a species have never failed to find reasons to regard one another with fear and loathing and thus to offer violence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/human-beings-as-a-species-have-never-failed-to-find-reasons-to-regard/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Once available, the inquisitorial toolbox could be put to use by any authoritarian regime with the will and the means to unpack and use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/once-available-the-inquisitorial-toolbox-could-be-put-to-use-by-any/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“...free-associative sexual libel...is typical of the impulses of religious authoritarians to demonize all heretics by attributing to them every manner of outrage that a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/free-associative-sexual-libel-is-typical-of-the-impulses-of-religious/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“All the weaponry and tactics that have been deployed in the war on terror are justified by precisely the same theological stance once invoked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/all-the-weaponry-and-tactics-that-have-been-deployed-in-the-war-on/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“What Hitler and Stalin had in common was the same aspiration that animated the first inquisitors - the simple but deadly notion that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/what-hitler-and-stalin-had-in-common-was-the-same-aspiration-that/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“...the workings of the Inquisition did not fundamentally change over its six-hundred-year history. The Inquisition was a machine with interchangeable parts, just as its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/the-workings-of-the-inquisition-did-not-fundamentally-change-over-its/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Interrogation...was the highest art of the inquisitor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/interrogation-was-the-highest-art-of-the-inquisitor/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“...heresy was often perceived by the Church as a financial or political threat rather than merely a theological one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/heresy-was-often-perceived-by-the-church-as-a-financial-or-political/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) > [“Then as now, demonization of the victim is the necessary precondition for genocide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/then-as-now-demonization-of-the-victim-is-the-necessary-precondition/) [Jonathan Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) [Explore all 15 Jonathan Kirsch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/) ## More Inquisition quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/if-galileo-had-said-in-verse-that-the-world-moved-the-inquisition/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and more profound has been the dogmatic belief,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/you-find-this-curious-fact-that-the-more-intense-has-been-the/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [A prisoner in the Inquisition is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnesses against him, but every method…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-foxe/a-prisoner-in-the-inquisition-is-never-allowed-to-see-the-face-of-his/) [John Foxe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-foxe/) > [Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/institutional-psychiatry-is-a-continuation-of-the-inquisition-all/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [“pro scienta atque sapienta-Latin- for science and wisdom It's a Darwinian popularity contest. at all times, the question on everyone's mind is, "who's coolest?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-vizzini/pro-scienta-atque-sapienta-latin-for-science-and-wisdom-it-s-a/) [Ned Vizzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-vizzini/) > [After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition: He posted no brief in defense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-jennings/after-the-survivor-of-the-spanish-conquest-has-told-his-life-s-story/) [Gary Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-jennings/) > [The Christians who engaged in infamous persecutions and shameful inquisitions were not evil men but misguided men. The churchmen who felt they had an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/the-christians-who-engaged-in-infamous-persecutions-and-shameful/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Intolerance has always been one of the cornerstones of Christianity - the glorious heritage of the Inquisition. It's no coincidence that most of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/intolerance-has-always-been-one-of-the-cornerstones-of-christianity/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [If you compare the United States with Europe, my view is that what happened in Europe is that the church became deeply distrusted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rawls/if-you-compare-the-united-states-with-europe-my-view-is-that-what/) [John Rawls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rawls/) > [“The important question to ask is why these bodies are allowed to exist. If a country such as Spain allowed a repressive body like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cullen-murphy/the-important-question-to-ask-is-why-these-bodies-are-allowed-to/) Cullen Murphy > [We cannot permit any inquisition either within or without the law or apply any religious test to the holding of office. The mind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-coolidge/we-cannot-permit-any-inquisition-either-within-or-without-the-law-or/) [Calvin Coolidge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-coolidge/) > [I subject my sentences and the words to a kind of Grand Inquisition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-tillman/i-subject-my-sentences-and-the-words-to-a-kind-of-grand-inquisition/) [Lynne Tillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-tillman/) > [“American foreign policy was a mirror image of Russian foreign policy: whatever the Russians did, we did in reverse. American domestic policies were conducted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/american-foreign-policy-was-a-mirror-image-of-russian-foreign-policy/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) [Browse all 164 Inquisition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inquisition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish Inquisition was to turn heresy from a thought-crime into a blood-crime...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Kirsch" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of-the-spanish-inquisition-was/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Inquisition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of-the-spanish-inquisition-was/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a4/jonathan-kirsch-33366_inquisition_indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of_2757806.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Indeed, the greatest single innovation of the Spanish Inquisition was to turn heresy from a thought-crime…” — Jonathan Kirsch", "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": "Jonathan Kirsch", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kirsch/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Indeed, the greatest single innovation of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of-the-spanish-inquisition-was/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kirsch/indeed-the-greatest-single-innovation-of-the-spanish-inquisition-was/#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 } } ] } ```