It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us. Peter De Vries More Quotes by Peter De Vries More Quotes From Peter De Vries A politician is a man who can be verbose in fewer words than anyone else. Peter De Vries politician politics men I was thinking that we all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school. Peter De Vries summer funny school The idea of a Supreme Being who creates a world in which one creature is designed to eat another in order to subsist, and then pass a law saying, "Thou shalt not kill," is so monstrously, immeasurably, bottomlessly absurd that I am at a loss to understand how mankind has entertained or given it house room all this long. Peter De Vries law loss order What baffles me is the comfort people find in the idea that somebody dealt this mess. Blind and meaningless chance seems to me so much more congenial - or at least less horrible. Prove to me that there is a God and I will really begin to despair. Peter De Vries despair people ideas If there's anything I hate it's the word humorist-I feel like countering with the word seriousist. Peter De Vries hate humor feels Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter. Peter De Vries diction cookies shapes I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best -- it's all they'll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money -- provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don't need it. Peter De Vries teenager inspirational country The writer can only explore the inner space of his characters by perceptively navigating his own. Peter De Vries space character Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse. Peter De Vries celibacy abuse self How do you expect mankind to be happy in pairs when it is miserable separately? Peter De Vries pairs miserable mankind Sex in marriage is like medicine. Three times a day for the first week. Then once a day for another week. Then once every three or four days till the condition clears up. Peter De Vries funny-marriage medicine sex The trouble with treating people as equals is that the first thing you know they may be doing the same thing to you. Peter De Vries may people firsts "You don't believe in God," I said to Stein. "God is a word banging around in the human nervous system. He exists about as much as Santa Claus." "Santa Claus has had a tremendous influence, exist or not." "For children." "Lots of saints have died for God with a courage that's hardly childish." "That's part of the horror. It's all a fantasy. It's all for nothing." Peter De Vries atheism believe children The tuba is certainly the most intestinal of instruments, the very lower bowel of music. Peter De Vries tubas instruments I tried to write worse but it was no good; my generalizations came out as before, each more exquisite than the last. I grew discouraged. Peter De Vries discouraged lasts writing The satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance. Peter De Vries another-chance laughter humor He resented such questions as people do who have thought a great deal about them. The superficial and slipshod have ready answers, but those looking this complex life straight in the eye acquire a wealth of perception so composed of delicately balanced contradictions that they dread, or resent, the call to couch any part of it in a bland generalization. The vanity (if not outrage) of trying to cage this dance of atoms in a single definition may give the weariness of age with the cry of youth for answers the appearance of boredom. Peter De Vries vanity eye people My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too. Peter De Vries hate waiting father Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is good for dandruff - it is a palliative rather than a remedy. Peter De Vries tweed coats soul We are not primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through. Peter De Vries cooperation earth sports
