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Christopher Hitchens Quotes - Page 15

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To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning.

To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning.

Christopher Hitchens
Reasoning
Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays”, p.355, Atlantic Books Ltd

Plainly, this unwillingness to give ground even on unimportant disagreements is the symptom of some deepseated insecurity, as was my one-time fondness for making teasing remarks (which I amended when I read Anthony Powell's matter-of-fact observation that teasing is an unfailing sign of misery within) and as is my very pronounced impatience. The struggle, therefore, is to try and cultivate the virtuous side of these shortcomings: to be a genial host while only slightly whiffled, for example, or to be witty at the expense of one's own weaknesses instead of those of other people.

Christopher Hitchens
Witty, Struggle, People
Christopher Hitchens (2010). “Hitch 22: A Memoir”, p.302, Atlantic Books Ltd

It [Obama's Nobel peace prize] would be like giving someone an Oscar in the hope that it would encourage them to make a decent motion picture.

Christopher Hitchens
Giving, Would Be, Oscars

I've proved to be as difficult to convert as I am to hypnotize.

Christopher Hitchens
Difficult

As is so often the case with pieces that appear in the 'Onion,' I honestly could not decide whether this was a clever hoax or not - the arguments were almost exactly as stupid as the real thing.

Christopher Hitchens
Clever, Real, Stupid
"Equal Time" by Christopher Hitchens, www.slate.com. August 23, 2005.

It especially annoys me when racists are accused of 'discrimination.' The ability to discriminate is a precious faculty; by judging all members on one 'race' to be the same, the racist precisely shows himself incapable of discrimination.

Christopher Hitchens
Race, Judging, Racist

For most of my life I let women do the driving and was happy to let them.

Christopher Hitchens
Driving
"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR: Christopher Hitchens / A gadfly with gusto". Interview with Carolyne Zinko, www.sfgate.com. June 26, 2005.

If asked my opinion about virginity, I would say, "I'm opposed to it." I don't think it deserves to be celebrated, at any rate. Or at least, if I'm not opposed, I'm very highly skeptical and critical of it.

Christopher Hitchens
Thinking, Opinion, Rate
Source: www.avclub.com

I'd like to prove to other people that it's not the end of everything to be diagnosed with cancer.

Christopher Hitchens
Cancer, People, Ends
"Christopher Hitchens discusses life, death, cancer and God in interview with Newsnight". Newsnight interview, www.bbc.co.uk. November 26, 2010.

This walking business is overrated: I mastered the art of doing it when I was quite small, and in any case, what are taxis for?

Christopher Hitchens
Art, Cases, Taxi
Christopher Hitchens (2015). “And Yet...: Essays”, p.170, Atlantic Books Ltd

There is an unusually high and consistent correlation between the stupidity of a given person and that person’s propensity to be impressed by the measurement of IQ.

Christopher Hitchens
Stupidity, Measurement, Given

One of the many dreadful aspects of the Kennedy 'legacy' is the now-unbreakable grip of celebrity politics, image-doctoring, stage management, and "torch-passing" rhetoric in general.

Christopher Hitchens
History, Torches, Legacy
Christopher Hitchens (2015). “And Yet...: Essays”, p.244, Simon and Schuster

Teasing is very often a sign of inner misery.

Christopher Hitchens
Misery, Tease
Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume”, p.494, Atlantic Books Ltd

I have not been able to discover whether there exists a precise French equivalent for the common Anglo-American expression 'killing time.' It's a very crass and breezy expression, when you ponder it for a moment, considering that time, after all, is killing us.

Christopher Hitchens
Expression, Able, Common
Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays”, p.98, Atlantic Books Ltd

In order to terminate a pregnancy, you have to still a heartbeat, switch off a developing brain.

Christopher Hitchens
Pregnancy, Order, Abortion

It is a pity that...the majority of feminists and their allies have stuck to the dead ground of "Me Decade" possessive individualism, an ideology that has more in common than it admits with the prehistoric right, which it claims to oppose but has in fact encouraged.

Christopher Hitchens
Abortion, Feminist, Allies

We have millions and millions of North Korean children totally stunted in mind and body and will have to be dealt with at some point, who have been raised to believe that they live in a regime that is run by a god.

Christopher Hitchens
Running, Children, Believe
Source: www.abc.net.au

People know when they are being lied to, they know when their rulers are absurd, they know they do not love their chains.

Christopher Hitchens
People, Being Lied, Absurd
Christopher Hitchens (2005). “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, p.111, Basic Books

Religion looks forward to the destruction of the world.... Perhaps half aware that its unsupported arguments are not entirely persuasive, and perhaps uneasy about its own greedy accumulation of temporal power and wealth, religion has never ceased to proclaim the Apocalypse and the day of judgment.

Christopher Hitchens
Looks, Half, World
Christopher Hitchens (2011). “God is Not Great”, p.44, Atlantic Books Ltd

I have often thought that when I do die it will be of sheer boredom.

Christopher Hitchens
Boredom, Dies, Sheer
Christopher Hitchens (2015). “And Yet...: Essays”, p.190, Simon and Schuster

Religion of every kind involves the promise that the misery and futility of existence can be overcome or even transfigured. One might suppose that the possession of such a magnificent formula, combined with the tremendous assurance of a benevolent God, would make a person happy. But such appears not to be the case.: unease and insecurity and rage seem to keep up with blissful certainty, and even to outpace it.

Christopher Hitchens
Insecurity, Promise, Overcoming

I mean, what would I be doing if I couldn't write? But that fortunately hasn't proved to be the case and I can read any day. I still read a lot, and I can write any day, but much more slowly and fewer words.

Christopher Hitchens
Mean, Writing, Cases
"Atheist Hitchens stares death in the eye". "ABC News" with Tony Jones, www.abc.net.au. December 16, 2011.

The enormous dynamic and creative, as well as destructive energy of capitalism... is written up with more praise and more respect by Marx and Engels in the 1848 Communist Manifesto than probably by anyone since. I don't think anyone has ever said so precisely and with such awed admiration how great capitalism is, how inventive, how innovative, how dynamic, how much force of creativity it unleashes.

Christopher Hitchens
Creativity, Thinking, Creative
"Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism". PBS documentary, June 2005.

Which natural gift would you most like to possess? The ability to master other languages (which would have hugely enhanced the scope of these answers). How would you like to die? Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around). What do you most dislike about your appearance? The way in which it makes former admirers search for neutral words.

Christopher Hitchens
Fighting, Answers, Way
Christopher Hitchens (2010). “Hitch-22: A Memoir”, p.253, Hachette UK

I don't have any terrific self-esteem issues but I do sometimes realise I've been too lucky and that I'm over-praised. It makes me nervous. I have this sense of being overrated.

Christopher Hitchens
Self Esteem, Issues, Lucky

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