Christopher Hitchins Quotes

I loved reading Christopher Hitchins’ outrageous quotes. He had some brilliant ways of putting things.
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
Speaks for itself.
My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilisation, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it either.
That made me laugh. But it seems like it sometimes. Some of the people who achieve high office are utterly deranged yet people vote them in!
The Koran shows every sign of being thrown together by human beings, as do all the other holy books.
If you look objectively at the writings that is obvious – yet there are still people who firmly believe they are the word perfect utterances of God.
Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.
Too true! You do not have to be religious to be moral. Neither are all religious people moral.
Only the aspirants for president are fool enough to believe what they read in the newspapers.
I certainly don’t.
To terrify children with the image of hell… to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?
Well you know my answer. The inbuilt misogyny of the Abrahamic tradition is a cultural legacy from the nomadic Arab tribes who wrote it. To teach religion to children is nothing more or less than child abuse and a blatant attempt to indoctrinate.
If you gave Falwell (Jerry Falwell – conservative Southern Baptist Pastor) an enema he could be buried in a matchbox
I found this hilarious.
The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.
To think and question is human. To accept and put blind faith in superstition also seems to be human.
To the dumb question, ‘Why me?’ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply, ‘Why not?’
There’s nothing special about any of us.
To ‘choose’ dogma and faith over doubt and experience is to throw out the ripening vintage and to reach greedily for the Kool-Aid.
I prefer a good vintage.
I don’t think the war in Afghanistan was ruthlessly enough waged.
Well I think war is always brutal and ruthless. There has to be better ways.
I don’t think it’s possible to have a sense of tragedy without having a sense of humor.
???
Well, we can’t say any more than we can say there is no god, there is no afterlife. We can only say there is no persuasive evidence for or argument for it.
That’s good enough for me.
High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.
Seemingly not!
I miss the guy!! We need more outspoken, intelligent free-thinkers.

Quote 19 – Christopher Hitchins – Earth as a penal colony.

‘My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilisation, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it either.’
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These are my six books of poetry. They are available as paperback or on Kindle from Amazon – all for under £5 for a paperback. You could buy the whole lot for just £27.62!!

They are not conventional poetry books. They are like you find on my blog with a page of explanatory prose followed by the poem. The prose is as important as the poem to me.

 

Codas, Cadence and Clues – £4.97

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Codas-Cadence-Clues-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1530754453/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460847766&sr=1-4&keywords=opher+goodwin

Stanzas and Stances – £5.59

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanzas-Stances-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1518708080/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460882298&sr=1-9&keywords=opher+goodwin

Poems and Peons – £4.33

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poems-Peons-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1519640110/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460882335&sr=1-25&keywords=opher+goodwin

Rhymes and Reasons – £3.98

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rhymes-Reason-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1516991184/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460882443&sr=1-28&keywords=opher+goodwin

Prose, Cons and Poetry – £4.60

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prose-Cons-Poetry-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1512376566/ref=sr_1_35?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460882506&sr=1-35&keywords=opher+goodwin

Vice and Verse – £4.15

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vice-Verse-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1514792079/ref=sr_1_36?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460882560&sr=1-36&keywords=opher+goodwin

 

 

Science Fiction books:

 

Ebola in the Garden of Eden – paperback £6.95 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebola-Garden-Eden-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1514878216/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461831172&sr=1-11&keywords=opher+goodwin

 

Green – paperback £9.98 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1514122294/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461831333&sr=1-17&keywords=opher+goodwin

 

Rock Music books

 

In Search of Captain Beefheart – paperback £6.91 Kindle £1.99 (or free on unlimited)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Captain-Beefheart-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1502820455/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=146183144

3&sr=1-1&keywords=opher+Goodwin

 

Other selected books and novels:

 

Anecdotes-Weird-Science-Writing-Ramblings – a book of anecdotes mainly from the sixties and other writing.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anecdotes-Weird-Science-Writing-Ramblings/dp/1519675631/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-9&keywords=opher+goodwin

 

More Anecdotes – following the immense popularity of the first volume I produced a second

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Anecdotes-Essays-Beliefs-flotsam/dp/1530770262/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-5&keywords=opher+goodwin

 

Goofin’ with the cosmic freaks – a kind of On the Road for the sixties

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goofin-Cosmic-Freaks-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1500860247/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-13&keywords=opher+goodwin

The book of Ginny – a novel

 

 

In Britain :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1461306850&sr=1-2-ent

 

In America:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=opher+goodwin

In all other countries around the world check out your regional Amazon site and Opher Goodwin books.

 

Books I have read since retiring three years ago!! – Update!!

Books I have read since retiring Sept 2011

1.Just Kids Patti Smith
2. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel
3. Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
4. Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
5. Maggie Girl of the Streets Stephen Crane
6. Great Singers of the 2oth Century David Spiller
7. East of Eden John Steinbeck
8. God is not Great Christopher Hitchins
9. The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
10. Full Dark No Stars Stephen King
11. 3 Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson & David Relin
12. Birdie Kurt Vonnegut
13. 11.22.63 Stephen King
14. IQ84 – Book 1 Haruki Murakami
15. IQ84 – Book 2 Haruki Murakami
16. IQ84 – Book 3 Haruki Murakami
17. Good Man Jesus scoundrel Christ Philip Pullman
18. After dark Haruki Murakami
19. After the quake Haruki Murakami
20. Long walk to forever Kurt Vonnegut
21. The Optimist Lawrence Shorter
22. The Atheist’s Bible Joan Konner
23. The portable Atheist Christopher Hitchins
24. The vanishing elephant Haruki Murakami
25. Salmonella men on planet porno Yasutaka Tsutsui
26. The Chrysalids John Wyndham
27. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
28. A long way down Nick Hornby
29. Blind willow, sleeping woman Haruki Murakami
30. My dear I wanted to tell you Louisa Young
31. Grimus Salman Rushdie
32. South of the border West of the sun Haruki Murakami
33. The Return Victoria Hislop
34. Stonemouth Iain Banks
35. The girl at the Lion D’Or Sebastian Faulks
36. The Long Song Andrea Levy
37. Underground Haruki Murakami
38. My Family and other animals Gerald Durrell
39. One Flew over the Cuckoos nest Ken Kessey
40. Hard boiled Wonderland and the end of the world Haruki Murakami
41. Red Gary Neville
42. The colour of Magic Terry Pratchett
43. The light fantastic Terry Pratchett
44. Dance Dance dance Haruki Murakami
45. Portnoy’s complaint Philip Roth
46. The lost Symbol Dan Brown
47. Guards Guards Terry Pratchett
48. What I talk about when I talk about running Haruki Murakami
49. A Maggot John Fowles
50. Who I am Pete Townsend
51. The story of Free & Bad Company Steven Rosen
52. Sputnik Sweetheart Haruki Murakami
53. Mr Stone and the knights companion V S Naipal
54. The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot
55. Mister God, I am Anna Finn
56. The Birthday book Haruki Murakami
57. A precocious autobiography Yevgeny Yevtushenko
58. The wind-up bird chronicles Haruki Murakami
59. Siddharta Herman Hesse
60. Hydrogen Sonatta Iain M Banks
61. The bonesetters daughter Joy Tan
62. Keep the Asphidistr flying George Orwell
63. Birds, animals and friends Gerald Durrell
64. Garden of the Gods Gerald Durrell
65. Andy Warhol Diaries Andy Warhol
66. First born Arthur C Clarke
67. Sweettooth Ian McEwan
68. Arguably Christopher Hitchins
69. Bring up the bodies Hilary Mantell
70. Equal Rites Terry Pratchett
71. Mort Terry Pratchett
72. Cutting for stone Aham Verghese
73. Sourcery Terry Pratchett
74. The particular sadness of lemon cake Aimee Bender
75. The dovekeepers Alice Hoffman
76. The Ginger Man J P Donleavy
77. The great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
78. Dharma bums Jack Kerouac
79. For whom the bell tolls Ernest Hemmingway
80. A wild sheep chase Haruki Murakami
81. Fug you Ed Sanders
82. A hat full of sky Terry Pratchett
83. Ring world Larry Niven
84. Wintersmith Terry Pratchett
85. The Quarry Iain Banks
86. Stoner John Williams
87. Blowing the Blues Dick Heckstall-Smith
88. The heart of things A C Grayling
89. Things the Grandchildren should know Mark Oliver Everett
90. Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
91. The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan
92. The Trial Franz Kafka
93. Tarantula Bob Dylan
94. Bound for glory Woody Guthrie
95. Flaubert’s parrot Julian Barnes
96. Talking it over Julian Barnes
97. Raw spirit Iain Banks
98. The favourite game Leonard Cohen
99. Beautiful losers Leonard Cohen
100. Corrections Jonathan Frantzen
101. The Stranger Albert Camus
102. The three Musketeers Alexander Dumas
103. After the flood Margaret Atwood
104. Hellraiser Ginger Baker
105. A Casual Vacancy JK Rowling
106. Wind through the Keyhole Stephen King
107. The Ragged Trousered Philantropists Robert Tressell
108. Maddadam Margaret Atwood`
109. Ringworld Engineers Larry Niven
110. The sense of an ending Julian Barnes
111. Ringworld children Larry Niven
112. Breakfast of champions Kurt Vonnegut
113. The blind assassin Margaret Atwood
114. The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham
115. The Rights of Man Thomas Paine
116. Wyrd Sisters Terry Pratchett
117. Juliet Naked Nick Hornby
118. Confessions of a crap artist Philip K Dick
119. Doctor Sleep Stephen King
120. White Rooms & imaginary Westerns Pete Brown
121. Moral disorder Margaret Atwood
122. The hare with amber eyes Edmund de Waal
123. Apocalypse D H Lawrence
124. The Cosmological eye Henry Miller
125. The last continent Terry Pratchett
126. Thud Terry Pratchett
127. A tale for the time being Ruth Ozeki
128. Survivor Chum Mey
129. Falling leaves Adeline Yen Mah
130. Catch 22 Joseph Heller
131. Go Now Richard Hell
132. Bluebeard’s egg Margaret Atwood
133. Life before man Margaret Atwood
134. Life after life Kate Atkinson
135. The Who & the story of Tommy Nigel Cawthorne
136. Mr Mercedes Stephen King
137. Umbrella Will Self
138. The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
139. The Children’s act Ian McEwan
140. The Magic of Reality Richard Dawkins
141. The Shack Wm Paul Young
142. The last interview Kurt Vonnegutt
143. Strong motion Jonathan Frantzen
144. Soul Music Terry Pratchett
145. The sun also rises Ernest Hemingway
146. The Woman who died a lot Jasper Fforde

Perhaps you would enjoy reading some of mine?

There is no god!

A study of human psychology and the history of religion shows me that the concept of god was constructed out of our own need for a father figure to look after us, cure all our ills and provide us with purpose.

Psychologically we are not able to find our own purpose in life; we have to believe there is a purpose to life and the universe. The thought that it is all meaningless is too horrible to contemplate. Hence we create gods with magical, undisclosed purposes for us.

There is no purpose. The universe merely exists. We are born and we die and go nowhere. There is no magical heaven or hell. Our consciousness has evolved and has no mystical, spiritual aspect. There is no soul. When we die it dies.

We will grow to accept this and make our own purpose in our lives, revel in the lives we have and live to build better lives for our children, fellow humans, and fellow creatures. That will be sufficient.

History shows us that religions, gods and philosophies come and go. The gods of yesterday are no longer worshipped. If I was to open a church to Baal, Isis, Zeus or Aphrodite now I would be considered a nutcase. Yet they were universally worshipped by millions. Viracocha, the Inca god, was so powerful that you were not allowed to speak his name, human sacrifices were made to him. He is dust.

All the rituals, dress-codes, prayers, sacrifices, incantations, hades, Valhalla’s, Elysium’s and gods and goddess are all quaint post-scripts as will all our equally pointless customs, beliefs and practices become – no matter how fervently we presently believe in them.

Why not read more in my controversial novel which has a major theme of religion and death/