"Now, I don't believe that a god exists. I think that gods are creation of men..." - Clive Barker

Now, I don't believe that a god exists. I think that gods are creation of men, by men, and for men. What has happened over the many centuries now, the better part of two thousand in fact, is that God has been slowly and steadily accruing power. His church has been accruing power, and the men who run that church, and they are all men, are not about to give it up. If they give it up, they give up luxury, they give up comfort.

— Clive Barker
Author, film director and visual artist

atheism atheist corrupt corruption deceit lies power

About This Quote

About Clive Barker

Clive Barker was a contemporary English author, film director and visual artist. Clive Barker is a British writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the Books of Blood, which established him as a leading horror author. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

Power — The dynamics of influence, authority, and leadership

More quotes by Clive Barker

“Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.”

— Clive Barker

art inspirational love redemption

“I dreamed I spoke in another's language,I dreamed I lived in another's skin,I dreamed I was my own beloved,I dreamed I was a tiger's kin.I dreamed that Eden lived inside me,And when I breathed a ga...”

— Clive Barker

inspirational love poetry

“Nothing else wounds so deeply and irreparably. Nothing else robs us of hope so much as being unloved by one we love”

— Clive Barker

abarat absolute-midnight clive-barker hate

“[Horror fiction] shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion.”

— Clive Barker

chaos horror illusion oblivion

“Here is a list of terrible things,The jaws of sharks, a vultures wingsThe rabid bite of the dogs of war,The voice of one who went before,But most of all the mirror's gaze,Which counts us out our nu...”

— Clive Barker

death fantasy fear horror

“There is no such thing as originality. It has all been said before, suffered before. If a person knows that, is it any wonder love becomes mechanical and death just a scene to be shunned? There is ...”

— Clive Barker

death imajica love

View all quotes by Clive Barker →

Related Quotes

“There is only one God and all atheists will learn that after their deaths”

— Munia Khan

atheism atheist death death-and-dying

“Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness...”

— Thomas A. Edison

atheism contradiction fable gods

“Nobody that has seen a baby born can believe in god for a second. When you see your child born, and the panic, and the amount of technology that is saving the life of the two people you love most i...”

— Penn Jillette

atheism childbirth love nature

“Creationists eagerly seek a gap in present-day knowledge or understanding. If an apparent gap is found, it is assumed that God, by default, must fill it.”

— Richard Dawkins

atheist inspirational truth

“If there's a God out there, then i would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork.”

— Khaled Hosseini

atheist belief god

“I had a standing agreement with god. I'd agree to believe in him, barely, so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays.”

— Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

atheist beliefs god humor

“Snob corrupted.”

— Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

corrupt nature snob

“The organized domestic terrorism of the general public is why many people regard the police as corrupt.”