Skepticism Quotes - Page 14

• What is wrong with priests and popes is that instead of being apostles and saints, they are nothing but empirics who say I know instead of I am learning, and pray for credulity and inertia as wise men pray for skepticism and activity.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Wise, Men, Church

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• Free inquiry entails recognition of civil liberties as integral to its pursuit, that is, a free press, freedom of communication, the right to organize opposition parties and to join voluntary associations, and freedom to cultivate and publish the fruits of scientific, philosophical, artistic, literary, moral and religious freedom.

  Paul Kurtz

  Religious, Party, Communication

  Paul Kurtz (1983). “In defense of secular humanism”, Prometheus Books

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• Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others.

  Ta-Nehisi Coates

  Racism, Hatred, Broads

  Ta-Nehisi Coates (2017). “We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy”, p.107, Penguin UK

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• Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short and long, life and death? Can you let go of all these dualities and embrace the Tao without skepticism or panic? If so, you can reach the heart of the Integral Oneness.

  Laozi

  Letting Go, Heart, Self

  Laozi, Brian Browne Walker (1992). “Hua Hu Ching: Teachings of Lao Tzu”

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• Racism is, among other things, the unearned skepticism of one group of humans joined to the unearned sympathy for another.

  Ta-Nehisi Coates

  Racism, Groups, Humans

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• Enforced religion breeds precisely what it most fears: rebellion against religion, cynicism about religion, skepticism about its claims, and, as a consequence, indifference at best or outright antipathy at worst.

  Langdon Brown Gilkey

  Church, Indifference, Rebellion

  Langdon Gilkey, Langdon Brown Gilkey (1985). “Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God at Little Rock”, p.11, University of Virginia Press

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• The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism. In such a case, the value of apologetics is voided, for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him.

  Edward John Carnell

  Heart, Demand, Doubters

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• Skepticism is a discipline fit to purify the mind of prejudice and render it all the more apt, when the time comes, to believe and to act wisely.

  George Santayana

  Believe, Discipline, Mind

  George Santayana (1937). “The Works of George Santayana: Scepticism and animal faith. Some meanings of the word "is". Literal and symbolic knowledge. The unknowable”

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• There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday be an act of rebellion.

  Criss Jami

  Believe, Have Faith, Degrees

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.83, Criss Jami

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• Nothing shall warp me from the belief that every man is a lover of truth. There is no pure lie, no pure malignity in nature. The entertainment of the proposition of depravity is the last profligacy and profanation. There is no skepticism, no atheism but that. Could it be received into common belief, suicide would unpeople the planet.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Suicide, Lying, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.181, Graphic Arts Books

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• A rational reaction against irrational excesses and vagaries of skepticism may * * * readily degenerate into the rival folly of credulity.

  William E. Gladstone

  Excess, Rivals, May

  "Homeric Synchronism: An Enquiry Into the Time and Place of Homer". Book by William Ewart Gladstone, 1876.

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• Although I held public office for a total of sixteen years, I also thought of myself as a citizen-politician, not a career one. Every now and then when I was in government, I would remind my associates that "When we start thinking of government as 'us' instead of 'them,' we've been here too long." By that I mean that elected officeholders need to retain a certain skepticism about the perfectibility of government.

  Ronald Reagan

  Mean, Thinking, Government

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• Faeries and vampires were glittery now? Honestly.

  Kiersten White

  Vampire, Honestly, Faerie

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• I encourage active skepticism - when people are being skeptical because they're trying to identify the best course of action. They're trying to identify the next step for themselves or other people.

  Tim Ferriss

  People, Trying, Steps

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• Well, I had a small degree, that little infection of skepticism about America which resides in the minds of even America's closest friends. That America can't be quite as good as it says it is. And why does it need so relentlessly to keep saying how good it is?

  Robert MacNeil

  America, Mind, Degrees

  "Journalist Robert MacNeil: 'Looking For My Country'". Interview With Judy Woodruff, www.cnn.com. May 16, 2003.

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• We could hardly believe that after so many ordeals, after all the trials of modern skepticism, there was still so much left in our souls to destroy.

  Alexander Herzen

  Believe, Soul, Trials

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• It's only fashion that has said the pendulum has swung from extreme skepticism about extraterrestrial life to extreme credulity. The truth is somewhere in between.

  Paul Davies

  Fashion, Truth Is, Said

  "Big Think Interview With Paul Davies". Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com. April 15, 2010.

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• The people who are constantly striving to apply skepticism to everything in their lives, the ones who actually care enough about truth and [care to try to] avoid being wrong, and biased, and prejudiced, and clueless; those are the people we need, and need to be.

  Matt Dillahunty

  Clueless, People, Trying

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• Skepticism cannot be revolutionary, even though it speaks the language of revolution.

  Raymond Aron

  Revolution, Language, Speak

  Raymond Aron (1957). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday

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• What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.

  Diane Ravitch

  Running, Thinking, Errors

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• Skepticism is my only gospel, but I don't want to make a dogma out of it.

  Learned Hand

  Want, Dogma

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• The lack of brotherhood among believers themselves has paralyzed the church in front of the skepticism and immorality of the world; but when we go back in simple faith to the one great fact of our redemption, we shall be both brought into closer fellowship with each other, and stimulated to more tender regard for the salvation of men.

  William Mackergo Taylor

  Simple, Men, Brotherhood

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 111, 1895.

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• ...the number of saintly men has not yet risen to the level where the census makes them a separate statistical category.

  George Stigler

  Men, Numbers, Levels

  George Joseph Stigler, Paul Anthony Samuelson (1963). “A Dialogue on the Proper Economic Role of the State”

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• I am all in favor of the skeptical mind. Do not believe anything unless you have experienced it. Do not believe anything - go on questioning, however long it takes.

  Rajneesh

  Believe, Long, Mind

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• Not far from the invention of fire we must rank the invention of doubt.

  Thomas Huxley

  Fire, Doubt, Atheism

  "T. H. Huxley: Scientist, Humanist, and Educator". Book by Cyril Bibby, p. 257, 1950.

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