Top Steve Allen Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Steve Allen Biography

Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, writer, and advocate of scientific skepticism. In September 1954, he achieved national fame as the first host of The Tonight Show, which was the first late night television talk show.

Read about Steve Allen in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Steve Allen Quotes

The problem is that once the untrained mind has made a formal commitment to a religious philosophy - and it does not matter whether that philosophy is generally reasonable and high-minded or utterly bizarre and irrational

Commitment, Generally, Irrational, Philosophy, Problem, Religious

The Bible is unfortunately unclear on a long list of moral and social questions and sex is one of them. On the one hand, there are expressions of admiration for the reportedly virgin mother of Jesus, but other portions of scripture speak quite accommodatingly of polygamy.

Accommodatingly, Jesus, Mother, Sex, Virgin

There are hundreds of millions who believe the Messiah has come. If he did, then it is unfortunately the case that his heroic sacrifice and death have had no effect whatsoever on the very problem his coming might have been expected to address, for history demonstrates, beyond question, that we Christians have been just as dangerous, singly and en masse, as non-Christians.

Believe, Christian, Christians, History, Problem, Sacrifice

God is by definition the holder of all possible knowledge, it would be impossible for him to have faith in anything. Faith, then, is built upon ignorance and hope.

Built, Faith, Holder, Ignorance, Religion

Consider the wave of revulsion that floods the average person when he or she hears of the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs and other so-called primitive peoples. How savage and barbaric such practices seem. But when a Christian or Jew comes across human sacrifice in the Bible (see Jephthah's immolation of his daughter in Judges 11:30-40), is he or she repulsed?

Bible, Christian, Daughter, Floods

There is not the slightest question but that the God of the Old Testament is a jealous, vengeful God, inflicting not only on the sinful pagans but even on his Chosen People fire, lighting, hideous plagues and diseases, brimstone, and other curses.

Fire, Jealous, Pagans, People, Plagues, Testament

Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless

Mind, Television, Radio, Mindless

Just as with cars, it's critical to know the fuel efficiency of black holes.

Black, Car, Cars, Critical, Fuel

To those who wish to punish others -- or at least to see them punished, if the avengers are too cowardly to take matters in to their own hands -- the belief in a fiery, hideous hell appears to be a great source of comfort.

Comfort, Hands, Punish, Punished, Religion, Wish

Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals, that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking.

Animal, Defined, Enclave, Flying, Swimming, Thinking

The fundamentalist believer is mostly a weird intellectual who often lacks real faith altogether. As a self-appointed attorney for God, who is in no need of attorneys, he very easily turns out to be more godless than the agnostic and the unbeliever. At all events, he seems deaf to poetry.

Altogether, Deaf, Intellectual, Lacks, Real, Self

Ours is a government of checks and balances. The Mafia and crooked businessmen make out checks, and the politicians and other compromised officials improve their bank balances.

Government, Balance, Mafia, Bank, Balances

Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar.

Asthma, Bother, Cigar, Dog, Funny, Smoking

Physical fitness is in. I recently had a physical fit myself.

Dieting, Exercise, Fit, Physical, Recently

Laughter would appear to be a physical reflex, although even if it is, this still leaves unanswered the question of why the human response to humor is a convulsive spasm of the respiratory mechanism rather than a crossing of the eyes or a waving of the arms.

Appear, Arms, Eye, Eyes, Laughter

Without laughter life on our planet would be intolerable. So important is laughter to us that humanity highly rewards members of one of the most unusual professions on earth, those who make a living by inducing laughter in others. This is very strange if you stop to think of it: that otherwise sane and responsible citizens should devote their professional energies to causing others to make sharp, explosive barking-like exhalations.

Devote, Humanity, Laughter, Members, Stop, Thinking

I do not understand those who take little or no interest in the subject of religion. If religion embodies a truth, it is certainly the most important truth of human existence. If it is largely error, then it is one of monumentally tragic proportions—and should be vigorously opposed.

Errors, Human, Important, Littles, Tragic, Vigorously

Millions of Germans had absolute faith in Hitler. Millions of Russians had faith in Stalin. Millions of Chinese had faith in Mao. Billions have had faith in imaginary gods.

Absolute, Chinese, Faith, Mao, Religion, Russians

I cannot see how it can be argued that one should speak in tones of reverence and awe about the alleged divine instruction-in Psalms-to grab the defenseless bodies of innocent infants and dash their brains out against the nearest rocks or walls.

Alleged, Bible, Religious, Reverence, Tones, Wall

We must never forget that both good and evil flow from the Bible. It is therefore not above criticism.

Bible, Criticism, Evil, Flow, Forget, Religion

1