Frans de Waal Quotes

My theory is if you have a religion, it's a good one. Because some people don't have any at all.

Religious representations are collective representations which express collective realities.

All religions, all indigenous traditions, all origin stories provide a large map of where you are.

The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order ...

Religions prosper in large part because of the communities that they create.

A religion is not just a set of texts but the living beliefs and practices of its adherents.

I believe religion is important for every person.

Religion, you know, enters very deep; in reality it is the deepest impression I have in speaking to people, that they are or that they are not of my religion.

I like to read about different religions - Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith healing, our first attempt at philosophy.

I'm interested in spirituality and in religion and our relationship to the divine.

I think that probably all religions sound bizarre to the people who are not the practitioners of them.

And what is religion, you might ask. It's a technology of living.

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery.

Religion is a fraud, but it must be maintained for the masses.

Some people think that religion is not essential to society. I do not hold this view. I consider the foundation of religion to be essential to the life and practices of a society.

I think that all the powerful religions are pretty much the same. People like to pretend they are very different, but they are not. They are really about believing in something bigger than yourself, something that's unseen, and about having some faith.

Religion and God are totally separate. Religion is created by government. God is God.

Religion is a temper, not a pursuit.

Americans know more about religion than almost any other topic.

For that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency.

Don't be confused that my interest in religion, faith, and spirituality is driven by any sense of faith or spirituality of my own.

I think the world would be much poorer without religion, speaking generally.

Religion has been an important part of my understanding, my inquiry into what it means to be human.

You can't write about the past and ignore religion. It was such a fundamental, mind-shaping, driving force for pre-modern societies. I'm very interested in what religion does to us - its capacity to create love and empathy or hatred and violence.