A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.
Neil GaimanRead
Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you - even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Religions use metaphors to express complex ideas about God and existence.
In this quote, Neil Gaiman suggests that religions are fundamentally symbolic, representing various aspects of human experience and aspiration through metaphors of God. He paints a picture of God as a multifaceted concept, encompassing dreams, hopes, and personal connections that mirror our desires and struggles, illustrating how we project our own meanings onto the divine.
Themes
ReligionMetaphorGodBeliefHope
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of faith during a philosophy class.
More from Neil Gaiman
All quotes →Jesus. Low-Key Lyesmith," said Shadow. and then he heard what he was saying and he understood. "Loki," he said. "Loki Lie-smith." "You're slow," said Loki, "but you get there in the end." And his lips twisted into a scarred smile and the embers danced in the shadows of his eyes.
Neil GaimanRead
As a teenager I wrote to R.A. Lafferty. And he responded, too, with letters that were like R.A. Lafferty short stories, filled with elliptical answers to straight questions and simple answers to complicated ones.
Neil GaimanRead
The important thing to understand about American history, wrote Mr. Ibis, in his leather-bound journal, is that it is fictional, a charcoal-sketched simplicity for the children, or the easily bored.
Neil GaimanRead
Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right.
Neil GaimanRead
I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.
Neil GaimanRead
Similar quotes
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
Frank Lloyd WrightRead
Eternity will be wonderful, but there is one thing heaven will not contain, and that is the call, the possibility, and the privilege of living a supernatural life here and now by faith, before we meet Jesus face to face.
Francis SchaefferRead
In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.
Baruch SpinozaRead
Sometimes I am asked if I know 'the response to Auschwitz; I answer that not only do I not know it, but that I don't even know if a tragedy of this magnitude has a response.
Elie WieselRead
The passionate are like men standing on their heads, they see all things the wrong way.
PlatoRead
Against eternal injustice, man must assert justice, and to protest against the universe of grief, he must create happiness.
Albert CamusRead