Skepticism Quotes - Page 15

• The city of truth cannot be built on the swampy ground of skepticism.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Cities, Built

  Albert Schweitzer (1953). “Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography: Postscript 1932-1949 by Everett Skillings”

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• You cannot prove realism to a complete sceptic or idealist; but you can show an honest man that he is not a complete sceptic or idealist, but a realist at heart. So long as he is alive his sincere philosophy must fulfil the assumptions of his life and not destroy him.

  George Santayana

  Philosophy, Heart, Reality

  Durant Drake, Arthur Oncken Lovejoy, James Bissett Pratt, Arthur Kenyon Rogers, George Santayana (1920). “Essays in critical realism: a co-operative study of the problem of knowledge”

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• Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known. This was the sound conclusion of the Academic sceptics, who were the least surly of philosophers.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Sound, Philosopher, Affair

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• But mark, madam, we live amongst riddles and mysteries--the most obvious things, which come in our way, have dark sides, which thequickest sight cannot penetrate into; and even the clearest and most exalted understandings amongst us find ourselves puzzled and at a loss in almost every cranny of nature's works.

  Laurence Sterne

  Knowledge, Loss, Dark

  Laurence Sterne (1847). “Works, Containing the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, Sermons, Letters and C”, p.185

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• There is at least this to be said for mind, that it can dispel mind.

  Samuel Beckett

  Art, Mind, Said

  Samuel Beckett, Ruby Cohn (1983). “Disjecta: miscellaneous writings and a dramatic fragment”, Calder Publications Limited

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• Reality, whether approached imaginatively or empirically, remains a surface, hermetic.

  Samuel Beckett

  Reality, Surface, Realism

  Samuel Beckett (1970). “The collected works of Samuel Beckett”

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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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• The catchword I use with my classes is: The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Class, Overcoming, Use

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• The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Science, Thinking, Fog

  Stephen Jay Gould (2011). “Full House”, p.57, Harvard University Press

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• I think I've always had a certain amount of skepticism of this whole 'shut up and smile' theory. I haven't ever swallowed that pill so easily, although I tried.

  Amber Heard

  Thinking, Pills, Amber

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• Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to no matter what.

  Michael Shermer

  Matter, Sticks, Stakes

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

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• I view my role now as providing more of a macro-level skepticism, rather than saying this poll is good or this poll is evil.

  Nate Silver

  Views, Evil, Roles

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• Almost all new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Science, Ideas, Innovation

  Alfred North Whitehead (1997). “Science and the Modern World”, p.47, Simon and Schuster

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• The strongest continuous thread in America's political tradition is skepticism about government.

  George Will

  Government, America, Political

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• Only the madman is absolutely sure.

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Inspirational, Madmen

  "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Anton Wilson, Part I : The Eye in the Pyramid, (p. 176), 1988.

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• There's a very healthy tradition in America of skepticism of centralized power. If we ever lose the skepticism of centralized power, we'll lose the essence of the country.

  Howard Fineman

  Country, Essence, America

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• The purpose of the Federalist Society was to bring together young people who had this skepticism about what they were being taught and to let them know that there were others who shared this skepticism.

  Antonin Scalia

  People, Together, Purpose

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• No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles lettres of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet?

  Bernard Ramm

  Philosophy, Book, Psychology

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• One does not have to be a 'climate change denier' to see that a degree of skepticism about the present consensus might be in order....Most likely, now - as in the past - many analysts have become carried away by the results of their models, which purport to look into a far distant future, and have convinced themselves that they must embark on a crusade to enlighten others.

  Colin Robinson

  Past, Order, Climate

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• In practice, the goal of skepticism is not the discovery of truth, but the exposure of other people's errors. It plays a useful role in science, religion, scholarship, and common sense. But we need to remember that it is a weapon serving belief or self-interest; we need to be skeptical of skeptics. The more militant the skeptic, the stronger the belief.

  Rupert Sheldrake

  Truth, Discovery, Self

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• I came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. My team evaluated them. We scrubbed them thoroughly. We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards. But my assessment, and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. In the abstract, you can complain about 'Big Brother' and how this is a potential program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then, I think we've struck the right balance.

  Barack Obama

  Running, Brother, Team

  Obama's Remarks on Health Care and Surveillance, www.nytimes.com. June 7, 2013.

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• As for Lindbergh, another eminent servant of science, all he proved by his gaudy flight across the Atlantic was that God takes care of those who have been so fortunate as to come into the world foolish. Expressing skepticism that adventure does not necessarily contribute to scientific knowledge.

  H. L. Mencken

  Adventure, World, Care

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• The theater requires an essential gullibility that you can't get through life without having. If all you can feel is skepticism-well , you meet people like this. Run away from them. They're not good people.

  Tony Kushner

  Running, People, Essentials

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• Commitment is what transforms a promise into a reality... Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Integrity, Character, Commitment

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• The concept of military necessity is seductively broad, and has a dangerous plasticity. Because they invariably have the visage of overriding importance, there is always a temptation to invoke security "necessities" to justify an encroachment upon civil liberties. For that reason, the military-security argument must be approached with a healthy skepticism.

  William J. Brennan

  Military, Temptation, Healthy

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