Skepticism Quotes - Page 6

• The capacity to combine commitment with skepticism is essential to democracy.

  Mary Catherine Bateson

  Commitment, Democracy, Essentials

  Mary Catherine Bateson (2007). “Composing a Life”, p.155, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Skepticism literally means a thoughtful inquiry, the looking at a problem in a disinterested spirit, the surveying of a question from many sides. In this sense it is the very essence of philosophy and science.

  Joseph Alexander Leighton

  Philosophy, Mean, Thoughtful

  Joseph Alexander Leighton (1918). “The Field of Philosophy: An Outline of Lectures on Introduction to Philosophy”

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• Faith is the surrender of the mind; it's the surrender of reason, it's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It's our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Atheist, Believe, Animal

  "Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (Holier Than Thou)". TV Series, May 23, 2005.

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• An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Inspire, Doubt

  "Conversations with Carl Sagan". Book edited by Tom Head, p. 70, 2006.

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• My skepticism is strong, but my curiosity is stronger.

  Veronica Roth

  Strong, Curiosity, Stronger

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• A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.

  James Russell Lowell

  Wise, Wisdom, Criticism

  "Literary Essays, vol. III". Book by James Russell Lowell, 1870-1890.

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• Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true.

  Francis Quarles

  News, Greater

  "Enchiridion" by Francis Quarles, 1640.

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• It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Change, Feel Better, Men

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• Investors should start with a view of skepticism. They should become intellectual investors rather than emotional investors. They should be careful, and they should be skeptical.

  Arthur Levitt Jr

  Emotional, Views, Intellectual

  "Fool.com: Doing Hard Time With Arthur Levitt [Special]". The Motley Fool Radio Show, www.fool.com. July 09, 2002.

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• In real life, every field of science is incomplete, and most of them - whatever the record of accomplishment during the last 200 years - are still in their very earliest stages.

  Lewis Thomas

  Real, Years, Accomplishment

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• On any Tuesday morning, if asked, a good working scientist will tell you with some self-satisfaction that the affairs of his field are nicely in order, that things are finally looking clear and making sense, and all is well. But come back again on another Tuesday, and the roof may have just fallen in on his life's work.

  Lewis Thomas

  Morning, Self, Order

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• I'm the most cynical person, and I know what that sounds like when you say, I don't drink and drive, and I don't. But I know people look at that with skepticism, and I understand.

  Tracey Gold

  People, Cynical, Sound

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• Skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.

  Michael Shermer

  Way, Claims, Method

  Michael Shermer (2002). “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time”, p.17, Holt Paperbacks

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• I have serious problems with fundamentalist Christians and their creationist theories. Although I believe that scripture is divinely inspired and infallible, I have a hard time going along with the belief that the whole creation process occurred in six twenty-four hour days. My skepticism is due, in part, to the fact that the Bible says that the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:16-19). I have a hard time figuring how twenty-four hour days could have been measured before that.

  Tony Campolo

  Christian, Believe, Hard Times

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• Education must enable young people to effect what they have recognized to be right, despite hardships, despite dangers, despite inner skepticism, despite boredom, and despite mockery from the world. . . .

  Kurt Hahn

  People, Boredom, Hardship

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• I definitely was attracted to similar things in punk and science. They both depend on a healthy dose of skepticism.

  Greg Graffin

  Healthy, Punk, Dose

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• I expressed skepticism, in the first chapter, about the utility of time machines in historical research. I especially advised against graduate students relying on them, because of the limited perspective you tend to get from being plunked down in some particular part of the past, and the danger of not getting back in time for your orals.

  John Lewis Gaddis

  Past, Perspective, Historical

  John Lewis Gaddis (2004). “The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past”, p.22, Oxford University Press, USA

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• He gave a dark chuckle. “But you’re not, so you had absolutely no qualms about kneeing me in the groin, right?” “I hit your thigh!” “Oh, please. A man doesn’t need that long to recover from a knee to the thigh,” he replied, his voice full of skepticism.

  Kiera Cass

  Dark, Men, Voice

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• Skepticism is history's bedfellow.

  Edgar Saltus

  History, Bedfellows

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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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• 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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• When even the brightest mind in our world has been trained up from childhood in a superstition of any kind, it will never be possible for that mind, in its maturity, to examine sincerely, dispassionately, and conscientiously any evidence or any circumstance which shall seem to cast a doubt upon the validity of that superstition. I doubt if I could do it myself.

  Mark Twain

  Science, Maturity, Our World

  Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.4096, Delphi Classics

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• I believe there is no source of deception in the investigation of nature which can compare with a fixed belief that certain kinds of phenomena are IMPOSSIBLE.

  William James

  Believe, Science, Deception

  William James (1986). “Essays in Psychical Research”, p.22, Harvard University Press

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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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• I have steadily endeavored to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as the facts are shown to be opposed to it.

  Charles Darwin

  Giving Up, Science, Mind

  "Dow 36,000". Book by James K. Glassman, Kevin A. Hassett, www.cnn.com. September 14, 1999.

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