This is my personal summary of the wisdom of others which I have absorbed in my reading over the last twenty years.
There are many intelligent and wise people quoted herein going back over two thousand years.
My reading of their words has led to me writing my own books and forms my understanding of the world.
I have separated this wisdom into four sections below:-
- On god & gods
- On Religion
- On Politics & Philosophy
- On Economics
- Quotes by, or about, powerful nutters…
On god & gods
Anonymous
- “If god doesn’t like the way I live, let him tell me, not you.”
- “Blasphemy is a victimless crime”
Hippocrates (c.460-c.377 B.C.E.)
- “People think that epilepsy is divine simply because they don’t have any idea what causes epilepsy. But I believe that someday we will understand what causes epilepsy, and at that moment, we will cease to believe that it’s divine. And so it is with everything in the universe.”
Epicurus (341-270 BCE) Epicurus is a key figure in the development of science and scientific methodology because of his insistence that nothing should be believed, except that which was tested through direct observation and logical deduction.
Here is his famous ‘riddle‘
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
Seneca (4-65 BCE) Roman philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian. He was Rome’s leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century CE and was virtual ruler with his friends of the Roman world between 54 and 62, during the first phase of the emperor Nero’s reign.
- “It is foolish to pray for this when you can acquire it from yourself. We do not need to uplift our hands towards heaven, or to beg the keeper of a temple to let us approach his idol’s ear, as if in this way our prayers were more likely to be heard. A god is near you, with you, and in you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: there sits a holy spirit within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our a guardian.” Letter XLI: On the god within us
Horace (65 – 27 BCE) AKA Quintus Horatius Flaccus The leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: “He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words.” His career coincided with Rome’s momentous change from a republic to an empire. From the first Book of his Satires:-
- “Gods are remarkable for their absence. Moral standards come, not from religion, but either from a popular version of contemporary philosophical preaching, or from native common sense;”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) 20th century playwright
- “The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.”
Chapman Cohen (1868-1954) (1 September 1868 – 4 February 1954) was a leading English atheist and secularist writer and lecturer.
- “Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense.”
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) a highly influential British philosopher & mathematician. Member of the British aristocracy whose parents were atheist at a time when this was unthinkable in the upper echelons of British society.
- “As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.”
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
- “Don’t be an agnostic. Be something.”
Joseph Lewis (1889-1968) American freethinker, and atheist
- “Man’s inhumanity to man will continue as long as man loves God more than he loves his fellow man.”
Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-1971) an Australian academic, author, historian
- “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
Madalyn Murray O’Hair (1919-1995) an American atheist activist; a founder of the American Atheists and its president from 1963 to 1986.
- “An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated.”
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books expressing the viewpoint that a good joke can do more to provoke thought than hours of philosophical discussion.
- “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
- “The most practical and dramatic victory of science over religion occurred in the 17th century, when churches began to put up lightning conductors”
Philip K Dick (1928-1982) an American novelist, short story writer mainly in the science fiction genre.
- “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”
Dr. Delos McKown (1934-2004) Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Auburn University. Author of numerous articles and several books including “With Faith and Fury,” “The Mythmaker’s Magic,” and “The Classical Marxist Critique of Religion.”
- “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.”
Richard Dawkins (1941-) an English, evolutionary biologist, and writer. Perhaps most famous as an outspoken atheist. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford‘s Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008.
- “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Quentin Crisp (1908-1999) writer, actor and homosexual rights activist
“When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, ‘Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe?’ ”
Courtesy of Ian Smith
(Newsline 12th June 2009 National Secular Society newsletter)
Anyhow, Pope Ratzinger goes to Israel this year. On one of his tours he is taken to the Wailing Wall where he is impressed by the atmosphere of prayer. He is introduced to an old Jewish gentleman who has been praying fervently.
“What do you pray for, old man?” he asks.
“I pray for peace and love, and that all the Jews and Christians and Moslems may be reconciled,” the old man replies.
“And how long have you been praying thus?” Ratzinger asks.
“50 years, Holy Father,” the old Jew replies.
“And how do you feel after praying so fervently?” the Holy Father continues.
“It’s like I’m talking to a brick wall,” the old Jew replies.
Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) actor, famous for his role in Lawrence of Arabia
“Question: How do you know you’re God?
Answer: Simple. When I pray to him, I find I’m talking to myself.”
Ricky Gervais (1961 – ) For me, an irritating comedian but a fellow atheist so I forgive him.
“Blasphemy: a law to protect an all-powerful, supernatural deity from getting its feelings hurt.” (From his Facebook page dated 7th January 2015)
Stephen Fry (1957 -) A modern icon of wisdom, reason with a sense of humour and whose use of the English language is just wonderful to hear.
When interviewed in 2015 by veteran Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne, Fry was asked asked what he would say if he came face-to-face with God:-
“Bone cancer in children, what’s that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world where there is such misery that’s not our fault? It’s utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?”
Within days, the video was viewed over five million times.`
On Religion and faith
It saddens and amazes me that our government funded education system is corrupted by supporting schools that promote the ignorance that faith and religion forces on young minds.
Anonymous
“Philosophy is about questions that may never be answered. Religion is about answers that may never be questioned.”
“Why be born again, when you can just grow up?”
“Blasphemy is a victimless crime.” (quoted by Richard Dawkins)
Roman philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian. He was Rome’s leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century CE and was virtual ruler with his friends of the Roman world between 54 and 62, during the first phase of the emperor Nero’s reign.
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” [This quotation is not confidently attributed to Seneca but Napoleon said something very similar, as did many others.]
“The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject… And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them… Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.” Natural Questions
Hypatia of Alexandria (370 – 415 A.D.)
Head of the Platonist school at Alexandria Egypt, she taught philosophy and astronomy, allegedly killed by a Christian mob in 415. She belonged to the mathematics tradition of the Academy of Athens. According to the only contemporary source, Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob after being accused of exacerbating a conflict between two prominent figures in Alexandria: the governor Orestes and the Bishop of Alexandria. Kathleen Wider proposes that the murder of Hypatia marked the end of Classical antiquity and Stephen Greenblatt observes that her murder “effectively marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life”.
Yet again, the course of human development was cut short by the ignorance of fallacious religious certainty.
“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth — often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable.”
“Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.”
“All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.”
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”
Abu’l-Ala-Al-Ma’arri (973 – 1058) (973-1057) Syrian poet.
“The world holds two classes of men, intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.”
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French philosopher.
“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) A great Irish satirist
“We have just enough religion to make us hate but not enough religion to make us love one another”
“It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.”
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.”
“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
“All religions have been made by men.”
Heinrich Heine (1797 – 1856) (From his play Almansor (1821).
“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”
Here, he was talking about the Spanish inquisition, but later his own books were burned!
“In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides.”
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
“I believe the spreading of Catholicism to be the most horrible means of political and social degradation left in the world.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833 – 1899)
Illinois orator extraordinaire, his speeches savaged the Christian religion. Ingersoll was an American writer during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defence of agnosticism. He was nicknamed “The Great Agnostic”. He would be more accurately described as a Deist, a person who rejected revelation as proof of god {Moses’ tablet of stone and Mohammed’s dictated Qur’an}. Deism is the forerunner of today’s Intelligent Design which is Creationism by a different name. Having said all that, he was on the right track!
“Fear believes, courage doubts. Fear falls up the earth and prays— courage stands erect and thinks. Fear is barbarism, courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, devils and ghosts. Fear is religion, courage is science.”
“With soap, baptism is a good thing.”
“Hands that help are far better then lips that pray.”
“Ministers say that they teach charity. That is natural. They live on hand-outs. All beggars teach that others should give.”
“For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.
“The clergy know that I know that they know that they do not know.”
Samuel Clemens (1835 – 1910) A.K.A. “Mark Twain”
“A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.”
“Faith is believing something you know ain’t true.”
“If Christ were here now, there is one thing he would not be – a Christian.”
“It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand”
Fredrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Faith means not wanting to know what is true.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) was a German philosopher and the most important figure in German idealism. He is considered one of the fundamental figures of modern Western philosophy, with his influence extending to the entire range of contemporary philosophical issues, from aesthetics to ontology to politics, both in the analytic and continental tradition.
“Faith is merely a moment in our transition to absolute knowledge. “
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) philosopher and mathematician
“Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.”
“I do not believe that, on the balance, religious belief has been a force for good. Although I am prepared to admit that in certain times and places it has had some good effects, I regard it as belonging to the infancy of human reason, and to a stage of development which we are now outgrowing.”
Arnold Lunn (1888-1974)
“The theory that you should always treat the religious convictions of other people with respect finds no support in the Gospels.”
Supreme Court of Wisconsin (Weiss v. District Board, March 18, 1890. )
“There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter into our civil affairs, our government soon would be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed. Those who made our Constitution saw this, and used the most apt and comprehensive language in it to prevent such a catastrophe.”
Thomas Nigel Kneale (1922–2006) From ‘Quatermass’
‘Well, I have my beliefs, you have yours’
‘No, I don’t. I have science’
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science populariser, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences.
“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) (1935- )the Dalai Llama since 1950
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011)
Writer, broadcaster, orator and fearless atheist debater. Never lost an argument in debating with those of any faith. His Intelligence2 debate, partnered by Stephen Fry against Anne Widdicombe and a Catholic Bishop provides some of the most wonderful use of simple logic and the most erudite use of the English language I have ever heard (possibly only outdone by Stephen Fry).
“The head of the church (of England) is the head of the state and the head of the armed forces. It’s an official church and you have to pay for it and whether you want to or not. And on the moment that her majesty, the Queen, expires, the head of the Church of England will become a bat-eared half-Muslim with no taste in, for women as far as I can see, the lugubrious Prince Charles, who goes to classes on Islam and talks to plants and is a loon. That’s what you get for founding a church on the family values of Henry VIII.”
‘Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.’
Dan Barker (1949- )
“Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.”
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. Author of On the Origin of Species
“It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) a British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. Perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.”
Emo Philips (1956-) American comedian, tells a Catholic joke)
“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.”
Matthew Parris (1949-) Matthew Francis Parris is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents.
“All three of our major religions in Britain — Christianity, Islam and Judaism — have a hateful idea at the very core. That idea is Exclusion: the “othering”, if you like, of the unredeemed.”
Nick Doody (1972-) A stand up comedian
“…religion was like an enormous dog. “If it’s yours, you love it, but it is terrifying to everyone else. Above all it should be kept away from children.”
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) an English-American political activist, philosopher, author and revolutionary
“The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion. Not anything can be studied as a science, without our being in possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing.”
Robert Ruark (1915-1965) from “Something of value”
“When we take away from a man his traditional way of life, his customs, hi religion, we had better make certain to replace it with something of value”
Sam Harris (1967-) Neuroscientist, atheist and author of The End of Faith
“I would challenge anyone here to think of a question upon which we once had a scientific answer, however inadequate, but for which now the best answer is a religious one. Now, you can think of an uncountable number of questions that run the other way, where we once had a religious answer and now the authority of religion has been battered and nullified by science, and by moral progress, and by secular progress generally. And I think that’s not an accident.”
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) philosopher, architect & inventor of the geodesic dome
“Belief is when someone else does the thinking.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction writer
“Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn’t there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.”
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) usually designated simply H. L. Mencken, was a twentieth-century journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker, known as the “Sage of Baltimore” and the “American Nietzsche“. He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century.
“For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.”
“The most curious social convention of the great age in which we live is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. Its evil effects must be plain enough to everyone. All it accomplishes is (a) to throw a veil of sanctity about ideas that violate every intellectual decency, and (b) to make every theologian a sort of chartered libertine. No doubt it is mainly to blame for the appalling slowness with which really sound notions make their way in the world. The minute a new one is launched, in whatever field, some imbecile of a theologian is certain to fall upon it, seeking to put it down. The most effective way to defend it, of course, would be to fall upon the theologian, for the only really workable defence, in polemics as in war, is a vigorous offensive. But the convention that I have mentioned frowns upon that device as indecent, and so theologians continue their assault upon sense without much resistance, and the enlightenment is unpleasantly delayed.”
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) influential early 20th century psychologist and author
“Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.”
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) author of the Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy
“I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.”
Julia Sweeney (1959- ) American actress and comedienne
“It took me years, but letting go of religion has been the most profound wake up of my life. I feel I now look at the world not as a child, but as an adult. I see what’s bad and it’s really bad. But I also see what is beautiful, what is wonderful. And I feel so deeply appreciative that I am alive. How dare the religious use the term ‘born again.’ That truly describes freethinkers who’ve thrown off the shackles of religion so much better!”
Sir David Omand (1947 – )
The first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and “homeland security”. He served for seven years on the Joint Intelligence Committee.
“The mind has a great capacity for “self-deception and magical thinking, believing we are seeing what deep down at an emotional level we want to see”
On Politics & Philosophy
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
“The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.”
“The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.”
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) philosopher, architect & inventor of the geodesic dome
“You speak of racism, for example, and I tell you that there’s no such thing as race. The point is, that racism is the product of tribalism and ignorance and both are falling victim to communications and world-around literacy.”
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) Agnostic and prolific author.
“Reason, Observation and Experience, the Holy Trinity of Science, have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
A Founding Father of the United States and in many ways was “the First American. A polymath2, author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretence of taking care of them.”
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) British philosopher, political economist and civil servant in his Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
“Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword.”
On Economics
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property, until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) founder of the Ford Motor Company.
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
“The question “Who ought to be boss?” is like as “Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?” Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.“
Quotes by, or about, powerful nutters…
Those who have gained power over us. Read, understand them and be warned!
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 –1989) (leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution)
“When anyone studies a little or pays a little attention to the rules of Islamic government, Islamic politics, Islamic society and Islamic economy he will realize that Islam is a very political religion. Anyone who will say that religion is separate from politics is a fool; he does not know Islam or politics.”
Well, he did warn us!
“We’re not afraid of sanctions. We’re not afraid of military invasion. What frightens us is the invasion of western immorality.”
By which he meant democracy, short skirts, equality for women and therefore the end of male domination over women.
T. Rafael Cimino (1963 – ) From his book ‘Mid Ocean‘ Speaking about George W Bush, probably the most laughably ignorant man to have ever been President of the USA. (Until Donald Trump that is…)
“Prolific irony. For 8 years, the finger on the button that could end the world belonged to a president who couldn’t pronounce the word “nuclear.”
Matthew Parris (1949-)
“I believe Tony Blair is an out-and-out rascal, terminally untrustworthy and close to being unhinged. I said from the start that there was something wrong in his head, and each passing year convinces me more strongly that this man is a pathological confidence-trickster. To the extent that he ever believes what he says, he is delusional. To the extent that he does not, he is an actor whose first invention — himself — has been his only interesting role.”
Dr David Owen CH, PC, FRCP (1938 – ?) a British politician and physician. Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, at the age of 38 the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post.
In his book the “Hubris Syndrome” Owen has analysed the two leaders (President Bush and Prime Minister Blair) with particular reference to the Iraq War, to show that
“…their handling of the war was a litany of hubristic incompetence.”
