To the comon man religion is true. To the wise man, false and to leaders useful. What do you think of this?

There are, and have been, plenty of smart cookies who believed the tenets of their religion. I think it's inaccurate to judge a person's intelligence by their willingness to accept or reject a religion. 

That said, if a person is to reject religion rationally (as opposed to dropping it for its inconvenience) I think there has to be an element of reason involved.

Useful to leaders? Oh, yeah.  Perhaps not as much in this modern, atheistic world as in the past, but it's a handy tool to keep the masses from getting above our stations.

That the Roman philosopher, Seneca the Younger, was an astute observer. 

Hi Whistle6,
I think the saying discounts individual diversity...that religion is often profound and meaningful in a life of wisdom, consider the saints of various traditions...

The part  I do see as unfortunately true is the usefulness of religion to political leaders and slave-owners.

This quote originates with Gibbon and a later author claimed Gibbon was quoting Seneca. Such a claim was not made by Gibbon and the quote cannot be found in any of Seneca's extant works.

The quote is glib and attempts to be clever but fails. Gibbon was notorious for hating all religion and his quote here is far too broad to be considered "quotable".

VirginiaL above counters it nicely.

Sounds like q quote from an athiest bigot.    a paraphrase: 
 
'The common man who doesnt believe the same way i do is ignorant
Those who do believe the same way i do are wise...'

Even as a Catholic, I appreciate good religious humor.

Here one by the ubiquitous "anonymous":

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.

Anybody who dies today praying for fish probably just can't find the grocery store.

i think everyone has different opinions about it

Actually, as Meatloaf once sang:  "Two our of three ain't bad."

Personally, I find it both true and useful.

And if I were accused of being a wise man, I would have to acknowledge the accuracy of that appellation---and deny that religion, in and of itself, is necessarily "false."

Typically the quote, if indeed it is a quote, says more about the author whoever he may be, than anyone else.

There is disdain for the common man, identification of wisdom with irreligion, and leaders with cynicism. 

That depends entirely on what you think "religion" is. Very few people have a definition that makes sense at all. The bible says religion is made up by men telling each other what to do. But as usual, men think they have a better idea.

To the comon man religion is true. To the wise man, false and to leaders useful. What do you think of this?

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The first two are slightly flawed because it is easy to find many

a] a common man with total disregard for religion as well as one who has not got a good understanding of his own religion, and

b] a wise man who regards religion as a necessity and therefore not false at all.

However, it is true that religion is a very useful tool for leaders to use it for the common good or misuse it for selfish purposes.