Quotations about Superstition

There is but one thing that can free a man from superstition, and that is belief. All history proves it. The most sceptical have ever been the most credulous. ~ George MacDonald

It is bad luck to be superstitious. ~ Andrew W. Mathis

Superstitions are, for the most part, but the shadows of great truths. ~ Tryon Edwards

Where the flag of truth waves unfurled, there you will find superstition waiting in ambush. ~ Author Unknown

They that are against superstition oftentimes run into it of the wrong side. If I wear all colors but black, then I am superstitious in not wearing black. ~ John Selden

Superstition is a quality that seems indigenous to the ocean. ~ James Fenimore Cooper

Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs. ~ Marlene Dietrich

Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is the only religion of which base souls are capable of. ~ Joseph Joubert

Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence. ~ Marguerite Gardiner

Superstition always inspires littleness, religion grandeur of mind; the superstitious raises beings inferior to himself to deities. ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater

The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order. ~ Francis Bacon

The greatest burden in the world is superstition, not only of ceremonies in the church, but of imaginary and scarecrow sins at home. ~ John Milton

A foolish superstition introduces the influences of the gods even in the smallest matters. ~ Titus Livy

Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either. ~ Mark Twain

Superstition is but the fear of belief. ~ Lady Marguerite Blessington

In superstition wise men follow fools. ~ Francis Bacon

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music. ~ Denis Diderot

Superstition is the religion of feeble minds. ~ Edmund Burke

Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man’s nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do it with safety. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The worst superstition is to consider our own tolerable. ~ Doris Lessing

Religion is not removed by removing superstition. ~ Cicero

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother. ~ Voltaire

No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

There is in superstition a senseless fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of Him. ~ Cicero

Superstition is part of the poetry of life. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes begging. ~ Martin Luther

Superstition renders a man a fool, and scepticism makes him mad. ~ Henry Fielding

Superstition is an unreasoning fear of God. ~ Marcus T. Cicero

Superstition changes a man to a beast, fanaticism makes him a wild beast, and despotism a beast of burden. ~ Jean Francois de la Harpe

Danger is the very basis of superstition. It produces a searching after help supernaturally when human means are no longer supposed to be available. ~ Benjamin Robert Haydon

Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them. ~ Voltaire

There are proselytes from atheism, but done from superstition. ~ Junius

Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present. ~ Iain M. Banks

Men become superstitious, not because they have too much imagination, but because they are not aware that they have any. ~ George Santayana

Superstition is a senseless fear of God; religion, the pious worship of God. ~ Cicero

Superstition is a pejorative term for any belief or practice that is irrational – i.e., it arises from ignorance, a misunderstanding of science or causality, a positive belief in fate or magic, or fear of that which is unknown. “Superstition” also refers to religious beliefs or actions arising from irrationality.(Source)