Quote#Wisdom
The miracles of the messiah were calculated to convince those only…
Quote byBaron d'Holbach · 1723–1789
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Ecce Homo.
English (original)
the miracles of the messiah were calculated to convince those only who did not [Pg 82]see them. Thus it is, that these miracles are believed at present by people who would not credit those performed in their presence.
— Baron d'Holbach
More from Baron d'Holbach
All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God.
Savage and furious nations, perpetually at war, adore, under diverse names, some God, conformable to their ideas, that is to say, cruel, carnivorous, selfish, blood-thirsty.
If the ignorance of nature gave birth to such a variety of gods, the knowledge of this nature is calculated to destroy them.
It is thus superstition infatuates man from his infancy, fills him with vanity, and enslaves him with fanaticism.
When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions.
Pascal proves nothing in favour of Religion, unless that a man of genius may be foolish on some subjects, and is but a child, when he is weak enough to listen to his prejudices.