"The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people."

William Robertson Smith, Scottish Scientist

God, Father, Thought, People

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"The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people."

Exlpore more God quotes

"God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal."

Samuel Butler, British Poet

God, Work

"To know God better is only to realize how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all. I know not which is more childish to deny him, or define him."

Samuel Butler, British Poet

God,

"An omnipotent God is the only being with no reason to lie."

Mason Cooley, American Writer

God, Lie, Being, Reason

"Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God."

Francis Bacon, English Philosopher

God, Atheism, Philosophy

"The gods are watching, but idly, yawning."

Mason Cooley, American Writer

God, Gods

"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best."

Voltaire, French Writer

God,

"Reason is God's crowning gift to man."

Sophocles, Greek Poet

God, Man, Reason

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."

Voltaire, French Writer

God,

"The reader becomes God, for all textual purposes. I see your eyes glazing over, so I'll hush."

David Foster Wallace, American Writer

God, Eyes

"It is quite true, as some poets said, that the God who created man must have had a sinister sense of humor, creating him a reasonable being, yet forcing him to take this ridiculous posture, and driving him with blind craving for this ridiculous performance."

David Herbert Lawrence, English Writer

God, Humor, Performance, Being

Explore more quotes by William Robertson Smith

"But, strictly speaking, this mythology was no essential part of ancient religion, for it had no sacred sanction and no binding force on the worshippers."

Religion

"In all the antique religions, mythology takes the place of dogma; that is, the sacred lore of priests and people... and these stories afford the only explanation that is offered of the precepts of religion and the prescribed rules of ritual."

Religion

"Religion did not exist for the saving of souls but for the preservation and welfare of society, and in all that was necessary to this end every man had to take his part, or break with the domestic and political community to which he belonged."

Religion

"Thus a man was born into a fixed relation to certain gods as surely as he was born into a relation to his fellow-men; and his religion... was simply one side of the general scheme of conduct prescribed for him by his position as a member of society."

Society

"The god can no more exist without his people than the nation without its god."

God

"Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship present much that is repulsive to modern ideas, and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile our imagination to the bloody ritual which is prominent in almost every religion which has a strong sense of sin."

Imagination

"The land of a god corresponds with the land of his worshipers."

God

"This being so, it follows that mythology ought not to take the prominent place that is too often assigned to it in the scientific study of ancient faiths."

Being

"The dissolution of the nation destroys the national religion, and dethrones the national deity."

Religion

"This, it may be said, is no more than a hypothesis... only of that force of precedent which in all times has been so strong to keep alive religious forms of which the original meaning is lost."

Force