Burden Of Proof Quotes

• It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be "You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?" I could tell you I've got superpowers. But I can't go up to people saying "Prove I can't fly." They'd go: "What do you mean 'Prove you can't fly'? Prove you can!"

  Ricky Gervais

  Fear, Believe, Mean

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• Freedom always carries a burden of proof, always throws us back on ourselves.

  Shelby Steele

  Wisdom, Freedom, Carrie

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• The secret to happiness is to put the burden of proof on unhappiness.

  Robert Breault

  Happiness, Secret, Finding Happiness

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• The prosecutor, who is supposed to carry the burden of proof, really is an author.

  Scott Turow

  Burden, Proof, Prosecutor

  "To hell with Perry Mason". The Observer Interview, www.theguardian.com. November 24, 2002.

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• Some [people] may be "servants of the power structure," but that has to be shown. I think it often can be shown, but the burden of proof is on the critic who puts forth that thesis in particular cases.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, Often Can, People

  Source: www.publicanthropology.org

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• If my interlocutor desires to convince me that Jupiter has inhabitants, and that his description of them is accurate, it is for him to bring forward evidence in support of his contention. The burden of proof evidently lies on him; it is not for me to prove that no such beings exist before my non-belief is justified, but for him to prove that they do exist before my belief can be fairly claimed. Similarly, it is for the affirmer of God's existence to bring evidence in support of his affirmation; the burden of proof lies on him.

  Annie Besant

  Lying, Support, Atheism

  Annie Besant (2014). “The Origins of Theosophy (Routledge Revivals): Annie Besant - The Atheist Years”, p.282, Routledge

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• A willingness to engage in the give and take of argument displays a commitment to cognitive egalitarianism - the proposition that all people should be treated as intellectual equals, and that no individual can legitimately claim a privileged immunity from the burden of proof.

  George H. Smith

  Commitment, Egalitarianism, Giving

  George H. Smith (2000). “Why Atheism?”, Pyr Books

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• The very admission of the need to harmonize is an admission that the burden of proof is on the narratives, not on those who doubt them. What harmonizing shows is that despite appearances, the texts still might be true.

  Robert M. Price

  Religion, Doubt, Atheism

  Robert M. Price (2008). “Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity”, p.75, Wildside Press LLC

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• Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position.

  C. S. Lewis

  Taken, Morality, Produce

  C. S. Lewis, Michael Ward (2017). “The Abolition of Man: C.S. Lewis’s Classic Essay on Objective Morality: A Critical Edition by Michael Ward”, p.59, TellerBooks

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• No man should dogmatize except on the subject of theology. Here he can take his stand, and by throwing the burden of proof on the opposition, he is invincible. We have to die to find out whether he is right.

  Elbert Hubbard

  Men, Should, Dogmatism

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• The argument from design stands or falls on whether it can be demonstrated that some aspect of the universe such as its origin or biological life could not have come about naturally. The burden of proof is ... on the supernaturalist to demonstrate that something from outside nature must be introduced to explain the data.

  Victor J. Stenger

  Fall, Data, Design

  Victor J. Stenger (2003). “Has Science Found God?: The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe”, Pyr Books

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• I've always maintained that black people and women suffer from a presumption of incompetence. The burdens of proof are different. It just gets so tiresome.

  Carol Moseley Braun

  People, Suffering, Black

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• Anarchism, in my view, is an expression of the idea that the burden of proof is always on those who argue that authority and domination are necessary. They have to demonstrate, with powerful argument, that that conclusion is correct. If they cannot, then the institutions they defend should be considered illegitimate. How one should react to illegitimate authority depends on circumstances and conditions: there are no formulas.

  Noam Chomsky

  Powerful, Views, Expression

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• The great soul of power extends far beyond states, to every domain of life, from families to international affairs. And throughout, every form of authority and domination bears a severe burden of proof. It is not self-legitimizing. And when it cannot bear the burden, as is commonly the case, it should be dismantled.

  Noam Chomsky

  Self, Soul, Nihilism

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• In debates between anarchists and statists, the burden of proof clearly should rest on those who place their trust in the state. Anarchy's mayhem is wholly conjectural; the state's mayhem is undeniably, factually horrendous.

  Robert Higgs

  Anarchy, Debate, Anarchist

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• Taking experimental results and observations for granted and putting the burden of proof on the theory means taking the observational ideology for granted without having ever examined it.

  Paul Feyerabend

  Mean, Granted, Results

  Paul Feyerabend (1993). “Against Method”, p.52, Verso

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• I have problems with a religion which says that faith in itself is enough for a ticket to heaven. In other words, that the ideal is your ability to manipulate your own common sense to accept something your intellect rejects. It's the same model of intellectual submission that dictatorships have used throughout time, the concept of a higher reasoning without any obligation to discharge the burden of proof.

  Jo Nesbo

  Common Sense, Heaven, Intellectual

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• While vast continents are shrouded in darkness... the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field.

  Ion Keith-Falconer

  Lying, Darkness, Missionary

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• The burden of proof is now on the Palestinians... They must fight terrorism and dismantle its infrastructures in order to make possible progress on the roadmap.

  Kjell Magne Bondevik

  Fighting, Order, Progress

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• The perverse presumption that places the burden of proof on the challenger of spending must be inverted, back to the rule that applies elsewhere in life: 'Prove to me why we should.

  Mitch Daniels

  Should, Spending, Prove To Me

  Keynote Speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee, delivered 11 February 2011, Ronald Reagan Centennial Dinner, Washington, D.C.

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• The threat [of the U.S. bills SOPA and PIPA] is the inversion of the burden of proof, where we suddenly are all treated like thieves at every moment we're given the freedom to create, to produce or to share.

  Clay Shirky

  Bills, Thieves, Internet

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• Given our abundance, the burden of proof should always be on keeping, not giving. Why would you not give? We err by beginning with the assumption that we should keep or spend the money God entrusts to us. Giving should be the default choice. Unless there is a compelling reason to spend it or keep it, we should give it.

  Randy Alcorn

  Compelling Reason, Giving, Choices

  Randy Alcorn (2011). “Money, Possessions, and Eternity”, p.638, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

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• That is what I have always understood to be the essence of anarchism: the conviction that the burden of proof has to be placed on authority, and that it should be dismantled if that burden cannot be met.

  Noam Chomsky

  Essence, Anarchy, Conviction

  Noam Chomsky (2004). “Language and Politics”, p.775, AK Press

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