“The Church says that the earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in the shadow than in the Church” – Ferdinand Magellan
I really don’t know what to say to that quote, I just thought it was neat. – C
I’m currently feeling flat because I haven’t found the woman in my life that really excites me. On top of that, my finances aren’t where I need them to be. I guess that the absence of a love life is a direct result of my finances! But I’ll never abandon hope that there’s someone out there that would feel the same level of love for me as would feel for her!
Magellan quote is bogus
The quote is a fabrication of Robert Green Ingersoll.
It is found in his essay “Individuality.” This may be accessed at http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/individuality.html
It’s in the fourth paragraph of his essay:
It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions, — some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I believe it was Magellan who said, “The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church.” On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.
This was first pointed out, as far as I know, by Dr. Tom Gorski in his website “Knowing What Ain’t So” at http://www.churchoffreethought.org/cgi-bin/contray/contray.cgi?DATA=&ID=000011010&GROUP=048. Dr. Gorski is one of four founders of the The North Texas Church of Freethought.
There are probably over a hundred sites on the Web with this bogus quote. I hope we all begin to exercise some form of self-correction and cite the real author of those words, Ingersoll.
Vicente Calibo de Jesus ginesdemafra@gmail.com