Quotes From "Angels & Demons" By Dan Brown

…In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves. Dan Brown

Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this: when we as a species abandon our trust in a power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faiths… all faiths… are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable. With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. The church consists of a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control. Dan Brown

Omnipotent-benevolent simply means that God is all-powerful and well-meaning.'' I understand the concept. It's just . there seems to be a contradiction.'' Yes. The contradiction is pain. Man's starvation, war, sickness .''Exactly! ' Chartrand knew the camerlengo would understand. 'Terrible things happen in this world. Human tragedy seems like proof that God could not possibly be both all-powerful and well-meaning. If He loves us and has the power to change our situation, He would prevent our pain, wouldn't He?'The camerlengo frowned. 'Would He?'Chartrand felt uneasy. Had he overstepped his bounds? Was this one of those religious questions you just didn't ask? 'Well . if God loves us, and He can protect us, He would have to. It seems He is either omnipotent and uncaring, or benevolent and powerless to help.'' Do you have children, Lieutenant?'Chartrand flushed. 'No, signore.'' Imagine you had an eight-year-old son . . would you love him?'' Of course.'' Would you let him skateboard?' Chartrand did a double take. The camerlengo always seemed oddly "in touch" for a clergyman. 'Yeah, I guess, ' Chartrand said. 'Sure, I'd let him skateboard, but I'd tell him to be careful.'' So as this child's father, you would give him some basic, good advice and then let him go off and make his own mistakes?'' I wouldn't run behind him and mollycoddle him if that's what you mean.'' But what if he fell and skinned his knee?'' He would learn to be more careful.' The camerlengo smiled. 'So although you have the power to interfere and prevent your child's pain, you would choose to show your love by letting him learn his own lessons?'' Of course. Pain is part of growing up. It's how we learn.' The camerlengo nodded. 'Exactly. . Dan Brown

Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves. Dan Brown

Mr. Langdon, I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories..legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hands? . Dan Brown

For centuries the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit. Debunking miracles. Training the mind to overcome the heart. Condemning religion as the opiate of the masses. They denounce God as a hallucination - a delusional crutch for those too weak to accept that life is meaningless. I could not stand by while science presumed to harness the power of God himself! Proof, you say? Yes, proof of science's ignorance! What is wrong with the admission that something exists beyond our understanding? The day science substantiates God in a lab is the day people stop needing faith! . Dan Brown

He respected the power of faith, the benevolence of churches, the strength religion gave so many people .. . and yet, for him, the one intellectual suspension of disbelief that was imperative if one were truly going to "believe" had always proved too big an obstacle for his academic mind. "I want to believe, " he heard himself say. Dan Brown

Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us. Dan Brown

…Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Dan Brown

Scientific advancement carries risk, ” Kohler argued. “It always has. Space programs, genetic research, medicine–they all make mistakes. Science needs to survive its own blunders, at any cost. For everyone’s sake.” Vittoria was amazed at Kohler’s ability to weigh moral issues with scientific detachment. His intellect seemed to be the product of an icy divorce from his inner spirit. “You think CERN is so critical to the earth’s future that we should be immune from moral responsibility?. Dan Brown

She lay outside in the courtyard, staring up at the raindrops… feeling them hit her body… trying to guess where one would land next. The nuns called again, threatening that pneumonia might make an insufferably headstrong child a lot less curious about nature. Dan Brown

Isn’t antimatter what fuels the U.S.S.Enterprise? Dan Brown

God, grant me strength to accept those things I cannot change. Dan Brown

Symbols, ” Langdon said, “in no way confirm the presence of their original creators. Dan Brown

Leonardo believed his research had thepotential to convert millions to a more spiritual life. Last year he categorically proved the existence ofan energy force that unites us all. He actually demonstrated that we are all physically connected… thatthe molecules in your body are intertwined with the molecules in mine… that there is a single forcemoving within all of us.” Langdon felt disconcerted. And the power of God shall unite us all. “Mr. Vetra actually found a wayto demonstrate that particles are connected?”“ Conclusive evidence. A recent Scientific American article hailed New Physics as a surer path to Godthan religion itself. . Dan Brown

As a scientist I have come to learn that information isonly as valuable as its source. Dan Brown

God created… light anddark, heaven and hell–science claims the same thing as religion, that the Big Bang createdeverything in the universe with an opposite.“ Including matter itself, antimatter Dan Brown

The carved stone sign in front read Building C.Imaginative title, Langdon thought Dan Brown

Good science fiction has its roots in good science. Dan Brown

Matter, ” Vittoria repeated. “Blossoming out of nothing. An incredible display of subatomic fireworks. A miniature universe springing to life. He proved not only that matter can be created from nothing, but that the Big Bang and Genesis can be explained simply by accepting the presence of an enormous source of energy.”“ You mean God?” Kohler demanded.“ God, Buddha, The Force, Yahweh, the singularity, the unicity point–call it whatever you like–the result is the same. Science and religion support the same truth–pure energy is the father of creation. Dan Brown

Emotionless tone hurting as much as the news Dan Brown

He had been haunted his whole life by a mildcase of claustrophobia–the vestige of a childhood incident he had never quite overcome. Langdon’s aversion to closed spaces was by no means debilitating, but it had always frustrated him. It manifested itself in subtle ways. He avoided enclosed sports like racquetball or squash, and he hadgladly paid a small fortune for his airy, high-ceilinged Victorian home even though economical facultyhousing was readily available. Langdon had often suspected his attraction to the art world as a youngboy sprang from his love of museums’ wide open spaces. Dan Brown

You’re telling me that CERN dugout millions of tons of earth just to smash tiny particles?” Kohler shrugged. “Sometimes to find truth, one must move mountains. Dan Brown

He warned that any church that ignored reality would not survive to enjoy the divine. Dan Brown

You mean the day they stop needing the church, " Vittoria challenged, moving toward him. "Doubt is your last shred of control. It is doubt that brings souls to you. Our need to know that life has meaning. Man's insecurity and need for an enlightened soul assuring him everything is part of a master plan. But the church is not the only enlightened soul on the planet! We all seek God in different ways. What are you afraid of? That God will show himself somewhere other than inside these walls? That people will find him in their own lives and leave your antiquated rituals behind? Religions evolve! The mind finds answers, the heart grapples with new truths. My father was on your quest! A parallel path! Why couldn't you see that? God is not some omnipotent authority looking down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of fire if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through the synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our hearts! God is in all things! . Dan Brown

Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. Dan Brown

I’m relieved to seethat even brilliant physicists make mistakes.” Kohler looked over. “What do you mean?”“ Whoever wrote that note made a mistake. That column isn’t Ionic. Ionic columns are uniform in width. That one’s tapered. It’s Doric–the Greek counterpart. A common mistake.” Kohler did not smile. “The author meant it as a joke, Mr. Langdon. Ionic means containing ions–electrically charged particles. Most objects contain them. Dan Brown

Nothing captures human interest more than human tragedy. Dan Brown

Secrets, ” Kohler finally said, “are a luxury we can no longer afford. Dan Brown

Energetically speaking, antimatter is the mirror image of matter, so the two instantly cancel each other out if they come in contact. Keeping antimatter isolated from matter is a challenge, of course, because everything on earth is made of matter. The samples have to be stored without ever touching anything at all–even air. Dan Brown

The Z-particle Pure energy–no mass at all. It may well be thesmallest building block in nature. Matter is nothing but trapped energy. Dan Brown

Leonardo believed his research had thepotential to convert millions to a more spiritual life. Last year he categorically proved the existence ofan energy force that unites us all. He actually demonstrated that we are all physically connected… that the molecules in your body are intertwined with the molecules in mine… that there is a single force moving within all of us. Dan Brown

One square yard of drag will slow a falling body almost twenty percent. Dan Brown

The media is the right arm of anarchy. Dan Brown

No love is greater than that of a father for His son. Dan Brown

We were at sixty thousand feet. You’re thirty percent lighter upthere. Dan Brown

If antimatter and matter make contact, both are destroyedinstantly. Physicists call the process ‘annihilation. Dan Brown

How do you feel?” He rubbed his stomach. “Like I’ve been eating Styrofoam. Dan Brown

Very little in any organized faith is truly original. Religions are not born from scratch. They grow from one another. Modern religion is a collage ... an assimilated historical record of man's quest to understand the divine. Dan Brown