How is it that, in this one area of our lives [religion], we have convinced ourselves that our beliefs about the world can float entirely free of rea… - Sam Harris

The problem is not that religious people are stupid. It's not that religious fundamentalists are stupid. I happen to think that you can be so well educated that you can build a nuclear bomb, and still get — and still believe that you will get the 72 virgins in paradise — that is the problem. The problem is that — religion — because it has been sheltered from criticism as it has been — allows people — perfectly sane, perfectly intelligent people — to believe en masse, what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.

The burn of lifting weights, for instance, would be excruciating if it were a symptom of terminal illness. But because it is associated with health and fitness, most people find it enjoyable.

Almost all our suffering is the product of our thoughts. We spend nearly every moment of our lives lost in thought, and hostage to the character of those thoughts. You can break this spell, but it takes training just like it takes training to defend yourself against a physical assault.