Peter De Vries
Peter De Vries
Peter De Vrieswas an American editor and novelist known for his satiric wit. He has been described by the philosopher Daniel Dennett as "probably the funniest writer on religion ever"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth27 February 1910
CountryUnited States of America
children believe atheism
"You don't believe in God," I said to Stein. "God is a word banging around in the human nervous system. He exists about as much as Santa Claus." "Santa Claus has had a tremendous influence, exist or not." "For children." "Lots of saints have died for God with a courage that's hardly childish." "That's part of the horror. It's all a fantasy. It's all for nothing."
easter race ideas
"You ought to be ashamed," a woman in an Easter bonnet told Stein. "Your race gave us our religion..." "From ancient polytheism, the belief in lots of gods," the woman continued a little more eruditely, "the Hebrew nation led us on to the idea that there is only one." "Which is just a step from the truth," said Stein.
character space
The writer can only explore the inner space of his characters by perceptively navigating his own.
people may firsts
The trouble with treating people as equals is that the first thing you know they may be doing the same thing to you.
cookies shapes diction
Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.
fads way looks
Look at it this way: Psychoanalysis is a permanent fad.
sex men driven
Marriage has driven more than one man to sex.
time able ministers
Time heals nothing-which should make us better able to minister.
punishment delay waste
Rather than waste precious time arguing, I went up and started serving my "sentence" without delay. It was usually about an hour for epigrams; somewhat longer for a paradox.
design
Are you pro- or anti-macassar?
pick-me-up trying despair
Try the Lamentations of Jeremiah. They always pick me up.
exercise unnatural
Exercise is an unnatural act.
hate humor feels
If there's anything I hate it's the word humorist-I feel like countering with the word seriousist.
mother father kitchen
I can still hear my mother wailing over some new kitchen crisis, "Oh God," and my father answering cozily from the silo, "Were you calling me, dear?