Skepticism Quotes - Page 7

• The modern world tends to be skeptical about everything that makes demands on man's higher faculties. But it is not at all skeptical about skepticism, which demands hardly anything.

  E. F. Schumacher

  Men, World, Demand

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• I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

  Thomas Paine

  Change, Freedom, Equality

  Thomas Paine (2015). “The Thomas Paine Collection: Common Sense, Rights of Man, Age of Reason, An Essay on Dream, Biblical Blasphemy, Examination Of The Prophecies”, p.222, Ravenio Books

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• There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Discovery, Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.290, Princeton University Press

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• I respect more the person who struggles with his faith than the person who is confident in his skepticism.

  Robert Breault

  Struggle, Belief, Persons

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• For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.

  Jasper Fforde

  Science, Opposites, Experts

  Jasper Fforde (2011). “One of our Thursdays is Missing: Thursday Next”, p.122, Hachette UK

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• The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, -- luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, -- are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

  Cyril Connolly

  Civilization, Luxury, Goal

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• Man masters nature not by force, but by understanding

  Jacob Bronowski

  Wisdom, Nature, Men

  Universities Quarterly (1956) vol. 10, no. 3, p. 252

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• It is assumed that the skeptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of skepticism.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Favour, Obvious, Bias

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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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• I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Faith Religion

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• Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order.

  George Will

  Government, Order, Punishment

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• Because of the complexity of the problem, environmental skepticism was once tenable. No longer. It is time to flip from skepticism to activism.

  Michael Shermer

  Environmental, Flip, Global Warming

  Michael Shermer (2016). “Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye”, p.36, Henry Holt and Company

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• Setting skepticism aside, even briefly, can make for very interesting explorations. It is not necessary that we change any of our beliefs. It is necessary that we examine them.

  Julia Cameron

  Inspirational, Interesting, Belief

  Julia Cameron (2012). “The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity”, p.78, Souvenir Press

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• Skepticism is my nature, freethought is my methodology, agnosticism is my conclusion after 25 years of being in the ministry, and atheism is my opinion.

  Jerry DeWitt

  Years, Atheism, Ministry

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• Like belief, doubt takes a lot of different forms, from ancient Skepticism to modern scientific empiricism, from doubt in many gods to doubt in one God, to doubt that recreates and enlivens faith and doubt that is really disbelief.

  Jennifer Michael Hecht

  Doubt, Different, Belief

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• As a conservative, I maintain a healthy skepticism of the theory of man-made global warming. I also believe that more people enjoying the fruits of modernity and economic development is a good thing - as long as those people arrived legally and obey the law.

  Gary Bauer

  Believe, Men, Law

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• You know, the very strength of science is that it keeps us from the errors of mythos, from getting committed to a set of memes that we adopt because of congruence with what we think we know. Science demands skepticism.

  Tim Ward

  Thinking, Errors, Demand

  Tim Ward (2012). “Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father/Son Journey Above the Clouds”, p.112, John Hunt Publishing

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• No medicine man these days can afford to be without a portable tape recorder. Without the aid of this modern device, which may be easily concealed in the undergrowth of the jungle, the old tribal authority will rapidly become undermined by the mounting influenece of modern skepticism.

  Muriel Spark

  Technology, Men, Medicine

  Muriel Spark (1960). “The Ballad of Peckham Rye”, p.142, New Directions Publishing

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