A Quote by Clarence Darrow

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.

Clarence Darrow

Quote Topics

Agnostic Agnosticism Compliment Consider Ignorant Insult Know Many Means Men Pretend Rather Sure

Quote Author

Clarence Darrow
American - Lawyer
April 18, 1857 - March 13, 1938

I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.

Clarence Darrow

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

Clarence Darrow

I’d rather be a straight ‘self-proclaimed homosexual’ than a racist, ignorant, hate-filled bigot in Rise Up Australia any day. This party wants to end multiculturalism and discriminate against anyone different. What this mob intends as a grievous insult, I take as a compliment. Long live equal rights.

Adam Bandt

I consider myself a religious person, but when it comes to God and faith, I don't know. I guess that means I'm agnostic.

Del Shores

I did not know that 'poetess' was an insult, and that I myself would some day be called one. I did not know that to be told I had transcended my gender would be considered a compliment. I didn't know — yet — that black was compulsory. All of that was in the future. When I was sixteen, it was simple. Poetry existed; therefore it could be written; and nobody had told me — yet — the many, many reasons why it could not be written by me.

Margaret Atwood

We are searching for the same thing,” Stripey said. “How do you know?” Janco asked. “I read his mind.” The Sitian pointed to Ari. “Yours was too…chaotic. Too many useless thoughts to wade through.” A compliment or an insult? Janco guessed compliment and preened.

Maria V. Snyder

An insult is mean or unkind. Milton Berle called me the Sultan of Insult, and I was called the King of Insult. But the guy that gave me the best title - and I use it to this day - was Johnny Carson. He called me Mr. Warmth.

Don Rickles

She'd tell me how she'd handle the backhanded compliment by smiling and pretending she was receiving a genuine compliment all the while ignoring their attempt to be insulting. After all, it's the way an insult is received that makes it an insult. You can't really give offense unless someone takes it.

Portia de Rossi

I won't say that I'm an agnostic, since agnosticism maintains that one cannot know... but I'm not averse to the idea of some intelligence or some organizing force that set up the initial conditions of the universe in such a way that ultimately generated stars, planets and life.

B. F. Skinner

Herein lies the tragedy of the age: Not that men are poor, - all men know something of poverty. Not that men are wicked, - who is good? Not that men are ignorant, - what is truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.

W. E. B. Du Bois

You should be thankful that dark colors suit you. Not everyone wears black well." "Why, Lady Olivia, is that a compliment?" "Not so much as a compliment to you as an insult to everyone else," she assured him. "Thanks heaven for that. I don't think I would know how to conduct myself in a world in which you offered compliments.

Julia Quinn

My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.

Robert Anton Wilson

I just became a stronger agnostic, and then I started to realize that everyone who was saying they were agnostic really hadn't thought about it that much. Still, I went with agnosticism for a long, long time because I just hated to say I was an atheist -- being an atheist seemed so rigid. But the more I became comfortable with the word, and the more I read, it started to stick.