Skeptic Quotes - Page 2

• Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

  Lord Kelvin

  Silly, Creativity, Science

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• You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it.

  Carl Sagan

  Fun, Science, People

  "The Burden of Skepticism". Book by Carl Sagan, 1987.

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• Being a skeptic just means being rational and empirical: thinking and seeing before believing.

  Michael Shermer

  Believe, Mean, Thinking

  "What Is Skepticism, Anyway?" by Michael Shermer, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 31, 2013.

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• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Motivational, Leadership

  Attributed to Aristotle in "Religion and the Pursuit of Truth" by Lowell Lindsay Bennion, p. 52, 1959.

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• If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.

  Lord Byron

  Self, Envy, Doubt

  "Letters and Journals of Lord Byron". Book by Thomas Moore, Vol III, Chap. XVII, p. 208, 1830.

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• I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Science, Religion

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• I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Badass, Knowledge, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2005). “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman”, p.21, Hachette UK

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• If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Data, Support You

  "The Burden of Skepticism" by Carl Sagan, 1987.

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• No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced that it says what he means.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  "Our Theatres In The Nineties". Book by George Bernard Shaw, 1932.

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• Science is the search for truth - it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others.

  Linus Pauling

  Science, Games, Trying

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• She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Atheist, Philosophical, Atheism

  "The Words". Book by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1964.

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• For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspirational, Nature, Science

  Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident appendix (1986)

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• It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Mistake, Math, Science

  "A Scandal in Bohemia" (1891)

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• If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Acceptance, Ideas

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.391, Ballantine Books

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• Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Truth, Mistake, Believe

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.71, Penguin

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• Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.

  John F. Kennedy

  Sad, Teacher, Appreciation

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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• Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Science, Technology, Possible And Impossible

  Letter to the editor, Science, 19 Jan. 1968.

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• Skepticism has never founded empires, established principals, or changed the world's heart. The great doers in history have always been people of faith.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Faith, Heart, People

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• Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Philosophy, Virtue, Skepticism

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• The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.

  Aristotle

  Truth, Science, Men

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• Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Believe, Animal

  Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

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• The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Cynical, Mind, Causes

  "Symposium On Epic Of Thomas Jefferson:Embargo Act Of 1807 & The Quest For Limited Government Over Big Government". Book by Festus Ogunbitan (p. 1498), April 11, 2014.

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• Cautiousness in judgment is nowadays to be recommended to each and every one: if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Philosophical, Years, Would Be

  "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook A 38, 1799.

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• There is a kind of courtesy in skepticism. It would be an offense against polite conventions to press our doubts too far.

  George Santayana

  Doubt, Atheism, Would Be

  George Santayana (1950). “Atoms of Thought: An Anthology of Thoughts”

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• There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

  Enrico Fermi

  Science, Discovery, Two

  "Nuclear Principles in Engineering". Book by Tatjana Jevremovic, 2005.

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