52 Quotes by Paul Kurtz

It is not the courage to be that we must develop as much as the courage to become. We are responsible for our destiny. The meaning of life is not located in some hidden crevice in the womb of nature but is created by free persons, who are aware that they are responsible for their own futures and have the courage to take this project into their own hands.

Humanists hold that ethical values are relative to human experience and need not be derived from theological or metaphysical foundations.

The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny. Human beings can achieve this good life, but it is by the cultivation of the virtues of intelligence and courage, not faith and obedience, that we will most likely be able to do so.

Only a fool of a scientist would dismiss the evidence and reports in front of him and substitute his own beliefs in their place.

The theist can only find meaning by leaving this life for a transcendental world beyond the grave. The human world as he finds it is empty of ‘ultimate purpose’ and hence meaningless. Theism thus is an attempt to escape from the human condition; it is a pathetic deceit.

We cannot remain silent when someone of the Pope’s stature and credibility confuses religious principles for science.

Three key humanist virtues are courage, cognition, and caring – not dependence, ignorance, or insensitivity to the needs of others.