Superstition is in its death-lair; the last 10 agonies may endure for decades or for centuries; but it carries the iron in its heart, and will not vex the earth any more. Carlyle.
Superstition is inherent in man's nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do so with safety. Goethe.
Superstition is passing away without return. Religion cannot pass away. The burning of a little straw may hide the stars in the sky; but the stars are there, and will re-appear. Carlyle.
Superstition is related to this life, religion to the next; superstition allies itself to fatality, religion to virtue; it is by the vitality of earthly desires we become superstitious, and by the sacrifice of these desires that we become religious. Mme. de Staël.
Superstition is the fear of a spirit whose passions and acts are those of a man, who is present in some places, and not in others; who makes some places holy, and not others; who is kind to one person, and unkind to another; who is pleased or angry according to the degree of attention you pay him, or praise you refuse him; who is hostile generally to human pleasure, but may be bribed by sacrificing a part of that pleasure into permitting the rest. Ruskin.
Superstition is the only religion of which base 15 souls are capable. Joubert.
Superstition is the poesy of life, so that it does not injure the poet to be superstitious. Goethe.
Superstition! that horrid incubus which dwelt in darkness, shunning the light, with all its racks, and poison chalices, and foul sleeping draughts, is passing away without return. Carlyle.
Superstition without a veil is a deformed thing. Bacon.
Superstitions would soon die out if so many old women would not act as nurses to keep them alive. Punch.