Do you, good people, believe that Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden and that they were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge? I do. The church has always been afraid of that tree. It still is afraid of knowledge. Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas. So does whiskey. I believe in the brain of man.
Interpretation
The quote critiques organized religion's fear of knowledge and promotes intellectual freedom.
Clarence Darrow highlights the tension between religious belief and the pursuit of knowledge, arguing that the church's fear of the 'tree of knowledge' symbolizes its reluctance to embrace intellectual inquiry. He compares the fleeting happiness provided by religion to that of substances like laughing gas and whiskey, suggesting that true happiness and fulfillment come from the power of human intellect rather than blind faith.
In practice
In a debate on the role of religion in modern society, one might use this quote to argue for the importance of intellectual freedom.
With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.
Do I need to argue to Your Honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty? That hatred only causes hatred; that if there is any way to soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil and hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love, and understanding?
Chase after the truth like all hell.
No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.
Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. She will have nothing from him who will not give her all. She knows that his pretended love serves but to betray. But when once the fierce heat of her quenchless, lustrous eyes have burned into the victim's heart, he will know no other smile but hers.
The trouble with law is lawyers.
The seat of Realization is within and the seeker cannot find it as an object outside him. That seat is bliss and is the core of all beings. Hence it is called the Heart.
We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy's side of the front is always propaganda and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace.
A chair is the first thing you need when you donβt really need anything, and is therefore a peculiarly compelling symbol of civilization. For it is civilization, not survival, that requires design.
An interest in the brain requires no justification other than a curiosity to know why we are here, what we are doing here, and where we are going.
A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end.
What's more valuable - intelligence or consciousness?
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