"He who says of me that i am an atheist says and knows nothing of me. The question as to the existence or non-existence of God, the opposition between theism and atheism belongs to the sixteenth and seventeenth century, but not to the nineteenth. I deny God. But that means to me that i deny the negation of man. In place of the illusory, fantastic, heavenly position of man which in actual life leads to the degradation of man, I substitute the tangible, actual and consequently also the political and social position of mankind"
- Quoted by Feuerbach in the book Essence of Christianity
