Maxim was an aggressive Atheist. Maxim knew the Chinese statesman and general Li Hung Chang to be just as strong an Atheist as he was himself.

Keith said, "As long as man remains an inquiring animal, there can never be a complete unanimity in our fundamental beliefs. The more diverse our paths, the greater is likely to be the divergence of beliefs."

“But my doubt would not be overcome,” wrote Brandes. “Kierkegaard had declared that it was only to the consciousness of sin that Christianity was not horror or madness. For me it was sometimes both.”

“I do not see what good it does to fulminate against the English tyranny,” said Joyce, “while the Roman tyranny occupies the palace of the soul.”

"Religion," Rand noted, "is the first enemy of the ability to think. ...yet before they learn to think [men] are discouraged by being ordered to take things on faith. Faith is the worst curse of mankind."

Langston Hughes "sought to counter, as best he could, his almost ineradicable reputation as an atheist. However, he made no effort to appear pious in public, and attached himself to no church."

When asked about his inattention to religion, Langmuir once responded, "Never believe anything that can't be proved."

Paine wrote, “the Bible and the Testament are impositions upon the world” and that “religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.”

Sings McLachlan, without reservation, “The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost // Is just somebody's unholy hoax. // If there's one thing I don't believe in // It's you.”

As an adult, Rubinstein referred with pride to his Jewish origins, but he called himself an agnostic. He was reluctant to call himself an Atheist.