There are some doubters even in the western villages. One woman told me last Christmas that she did not believe either in hell or in ghosts. Hell she thought was merely an invention got up by the priest to keep people good; and ghosts would not be permitted, she held, to go 'trapsin about the earth' at their own free will; 'but there are faeries, ' she added, 'and little leprechauns, and water-horses, and fallen angels.' I have met also a man with a mohawk Indian tattooed upon his arm, who held exactly similar beliefs and unbeliefs. No matter what one doubts one never doubts the faeries, for, as the man with the mohawk Indian on his arm said to me, 'they stand to reason.' Even the official mind does not escape this faith. ("Reason and Unreason") . W.b. Yeats
About This Quote

This quote captures the dichotomy that is the human condition. While we are always striving to find truth and wisdom, we still hold onto our doubts and superstitions. Our own beliefs often do not match the ideas of society or even those within our own family. Even if we accept that things like ghosts and hell exist, there are still many questions left unanswered. Why do people believe these things? What can be done to convince them otherwise?

Source: The Celtic Twilight: Faerie And Folklore

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