"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

"It is better for civilisation to be going down the drain than to be coming up it." - Henry Allen

"The fact is that if you have not developed language, you simply don't have access to most of human experience, and if you don't have access to experience, then you're not going to be able to think properly." - Chomsky, Noam in 'Language and Problems of Knowledge: the Managua Lectures' 1988

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind." - Einstein, Albert

"If you were happy every day of your life, you wouldn't be a human being. You'd be a game show host." - 'Heathers'

"The subject matter of research is no longer nature in itself, but nature subjected to human questioning . . ." - Heisenberg, Werner Karl (1901-1976)

"Man is a dog's idea of what God should be." - Jackson, Holbrook

"Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism." - James, William

"Religion, which should most distinguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts themselves." - Locke, John (1632-1704)

"The only thing about a man that is a man . . . is his mind. Everything else you can find in a pig or a horse." - MacLeish, Archibald

"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." - Robbins, Tom

"People always find it easier to be a result of the past rather than a cause of the future." - Unknown

"The oneness of human beings is the basic ethical thread that holds us together." - Yunus, Muhammad [Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh]