John Templeton Quotes

Anybody who had come up with a new concept would have been under suspicion for being out of step with the tradition or out of step with the teachings of the church.
John Templeton

I have no quarrel with what I learned in the Presbyterian Church — I am still an enthusiastic Christian. But why shouldn't I try to learn more? Why shouldn't I go to Hindu services? Why shouldn't I go to Muslim services? If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more.
John Templeton

I believe all religions are becoming obsolete, clinging to ancient concepts.
John Templeton

I focus on spiritual wealth now, and I'm busier, more enthusiastic, and more joyful than I have ever been.
John Templeton

I thought, I'm only going to be on this planet once, and only for a short time. What can I do with my life that will lead to permanent benefits?
John Templeton

I wouldn't call it radical; I would call it enthusiasm for progress.
John Templeton

I'm really convinced that our descendants a century or two from now will look back at us with the same pity that we have toward the people in the field of science two centuries ago.
John Templeton

The idea that an individual can find God is terribly self-centered. It is like a wave thinking it can find the sea.
John Templeton

The question is not is there a God, but is there anything else except God? God is everyone and each of us is a little bit.
John Templeton

Three of my children are medical doctors, they know at least a hundred times as much about your body as my grandfather knew, but they don't know much more about soul than he did.
John Templeton

Work at being a humble person.
John Templeton

If we become increasingly humble about how little we know, we may be more eager to search.
John Templeton

If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more.
John Templeton

It is nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
John Templeton

It's self-centered to think that human beings, as limited as we are, can describe divinity.
John Templeton

I'm really convinced that our descendants a century or two from now will look back at us with the same pity that we have toward the people in the field of science two centuries ago.
John Templeton

We may find the Divine to be 3,000 times what we think it is now. It's like asking the tulip there to explain you. The tulip is a beautiful creation, with millions of atoms cooperating with each other to produce great beauty, but ask that tulip to talk about you, and it can't do it. It doesn't have those perceptive abilities. Wouldn't it be conceited to suggest that I had the abilities to describe the deity?
John Templeton

The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be.
John Templeton

A doctor today would never prescribe the treatments my grandfather used in the Confederate Army, but a minister says pretty much the same thing today that a minister would have said back then.
John Templeton