Peter Hitchens (2010) Rage Against God, Continuum International Publishing Group,
“

Stalin and Kim made human idols of themselves because they believed - as utopian idealists always do - in the ultimate goodness of themselves and the unchallengeable rightness of their decisions. There was no higher power and so there could be no higher law. If people disagreed with them, it was because those people were in some way defective- insane, malignant, or mercenary. They could not tolerate actual religion because they could not tolerate any rival authority or any rival source - or judge - of goodness, rectitude and justice.

— Peter Hitchens

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Stalin and Kim made human idols of themselves because they believed - as utopian idealists always do - in the ultimate goodness of themselves and the unchallengeable rightness of their decisions. There was no higher power and so there could be no higher law. If people disagreed with them, it was because those people were in some way defective- insane, malignant, or mercenary. They could not tolerate actual religion because they could not tolerate any rival authority or any rival source - or judge - of goodness, rectitude and justice." in the context of "Peter Hitchens (2010) Rage Against God, Continuum International Publishing Group," to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Kim Il-sung" (Quotes about Kim) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Kim Il-sung

About Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and its supreme leader until his death. With support from the Soviet Union he developed a state and economy based on Marxist-Leninist principles, but later pursued his own Juche theory of Korean self-reliance. The DPRK refers to him as its "Great Leader" and "Eternal President."