Karen Armstrong Quotes

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Karen Armstrong

Profession : Writer

Birth : November 14, 1944

There is a danger in monotheism, and it's called idolatry. And we know the prophets of Israel were very, very concerned about idolatry, the worship of a human expression of the divine.

Karen Armstrong

I was a lousy nun. I couldn't do it. I couldn't find God. It wasn't suitable for me. It is suitable for very few people.

Karen Armstrong

I have nothing maternal in me, and men want to be mothered a lot of the time.

Karen Armstrong

All religions are designed to teach us how to live, joyfully, serenely, and kindly, in the midst of suffering.

Karen Armstrong

Even before 9/11 I was gripped by a sense of dread: our lack of criticism about what we were doing in the Middle East - the slagging off of a whole religious tradition.

Karen Armstrong

In the past some of the most influential Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians, such as Maimonides, Aquinas and Ibn Sina, made it clear that it was very difficult to speak about God, because when we confront the ultimate, we are at the end of what words or thoughts can do.

Karen Armstrong

Storytelling is fine as long as you can encourage people to act on the stories.

Karen Armstrong

When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.

Karen Armstrong

Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way.

Karen Armstrong

In the holy city of Mecca, violence of any kind was forbidden. From the moment they left home, pilgrims were not permitted to carry weapons, to swat an insect or speak an angry word, a discipline that introduced them to a new way of living.

Karen Armstrong

Alas, all traditions lose their primal purity and we all fail our founders.

Karen Armstrong

I have a very sharp tongue, I'm very impatient, and it's a lifelong struggle.

Karen Armstrong