Ben Goldacre Quotes

Quotes about:

• You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.

  Ben Goldacre

  People, Argument, Reason

  48 Copy quote

• Positive findings are around twice as likely to be published as negative findings. This is a cancer at the core of evidence-based medicine.

  Ben Goldacre

  Motivation, Cancer, Inspiration

  A Rhetoric of Public Bias: How Doctors Are Mislead About the Drugs They Prescribe, delivered September 2012

  21 Copy quote

• The plural of anecdotes is not data

  Ben Goldacre

  Data, Anecdotes

  7 Copy quote

• The placebo effect is one of the most fascinating things in the whole of medicine. It's not just about taking a pill, and your performance and your pain getting better. It's about our beliefs and expectations. It's about the cultural meaning of a treatment.

  Ben Goldacre

  Pain, Motivation, Inspiration

  12 Copy quote

• Just just because there are flaws in aircraft design that doesn't mean flying carpets exist.

  Ben Goldacre

  Pain, Mean, Design

  9 Copy quote

• You are a placebo responder. Your body plays tricks on your mind. You cannot be trusted.

  Ben Goldacre

  Play, Mind, Body

  12 Copy quote

• Amazing things happen when you pull individual pieces of information together into larger linked datasets: meaning emerges, as you produce facts from figures.

  Ben Goldacre

  Together, Facts, Pieces

  "There's a wealth of data out there - why not let us use it?" by Ben Goldacre, www.theguardian.com. October 7, 2011.

  10 Copy quote

• If you put me in charge of the medical research budget, I would cancel all primary research, I would cancel all new trials, for just one year, and I would spend the money exclusively on making sure that we make the best possible use of the clinical evidence that we already have.

  Ben Goldacre

  Years, Use, Trials

  "Ben Goldacre: 'It's appalling ... like phone hacking or MPs' expenses'". Interview with Ian Tucker, www.theguardian.com. October 6, 2012.

  10 Copy quote

• Doctors and patients need as much data as possible to make an informed decision about what treatment is best.

  Ben Goldacre

  Doctors, Data, Decision

  4 Copy quote

• Real science is all about critically appraising the evidence for somebody else's position.

  Ben Goldacre

  Motivation, Real, Inspiration

  7 Copy quote

• Science has authority not because of white coats or titles, but because of precision and transparency: you explain your theory, set out your evidence, and reference the studies that support your case.

  Ben Goldacre

  White, Support, Coats

  Ben Goldacre (2014). “I Think You’ll Find It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That”, p.22, HarperCollins UK

  10 Copy quote

• Teaching needs an ecosystem that supports evidence-based practice. It will need better systems to disseminate the results of research more widely, but also a better understanding of research, so that teachers can be critical consumers of evidence.

  Ben Goldacre

  Teacher, Teaching, Practice

  "Teachers need to drive the research agenda" by Ben Goldacre, www.theguardian.com. March 18, 2013.

  9 Copy quote

• Most bloggers have no institutional credibility, and so they must build it, by linking transparently, and allowing you to easily double check their work. But more than anything, because linking sources is such an easy thing to do, and the motivations for avoiding links are so dubious, I've detected myself using a new rule of thumb: if you don't link to primary sources, I just don't trust you.

  Ben Goldacre

  Pain, Motivation, Dubious

  7 Copy quote

• I agree, the world would be a better place if doctors were less enthusiastic about adopting very new drugs.

  Ben Goldacre

  Doctors, Drug, Would Be

  "Ben Goldacre: 'It's appalling ... like phone hacking or MPs' expenses'". Interview With Ian Tucker, www.theguardian.com. October 6, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• As it is a major component of blood, water is vital for transporting oxygen to the brain. Heaven forbid that your blood should dry out.

  Ben Goldacre

  Oxygen, Blood, Water

  Ben Goldacre (2008). “Bad Science”, p.16, HarperCollins UK

  8 Copy quote

• Transparency and detail are everything in science.

  Ben Goldacre

  Details, Transparency

  8 Copy quote

• There are many differences between medicine and teaching, but they have much in common. Both involve craft and personal expertise, learned through experience; but both can be informed by the experience of others.

  Ben Goldacre

  Teaching, Medicine, Differences

  "Teachers need to drive the research agenda" by Ben Goldacre, www.theguardian.com. March 18, 2013.

  6 Copy quote

• I spend a lot of time talking to people who disagree with me - I would go so far as to say that it's my favourite leisure activity.

  Ben Goldacre

  Leisure Activities, Talking, People

  Ben Goldacre (2008). “Bad Science”, p.8, HarperCollins UK

  7 Copy quote

• I'd like to submit to Bad Science my teacher who gave us a handout which says that 'Water is best absorbed by the body when provided in frequent small amounts.' What I want to know is this. If I drink too much in one go, will it leak out off my arsehole instead? Thank you. Anton.

  Ben Goldacre

  Teacher, Water, Arseholes

  Ben Goldacre (2008). “Bad Science”, p.21, HarperCollins UK

  15 Copy quote

• Yes. I'm a doctor, an epidemiologist, and lots of my professional colleagues flip back and forth between industry and medical roles. I know them; they are not bad people. But it is possible for good people in bad systems to do things that inflict enormous harm.

  Ben Goldacre

  Doctors, People, Roles

  4 Copy quote

• I write about misuses of evidence in plenty of different spheres: scaremongering journalists, obvious quacks and naturopaths, and flaws in the way that evidence is used in mainstream academia, medicine and in (government) policy. One of the things I always found interesting is the same tricks are used to distort medicine in all of those domains.

  Ben Goldacre

  Writing, Interesting, Different

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  4 Copy quote

• I hope that you will be asked to participate in a trial at some stage in your disease

  Ben Goldacre

  Trials, Disease, Stage

  4 Copy quote

• And if, by the end [of this book], you reckon you might still disagree with me, then I offer you this: you'll still be wrong, but you'll be wrong with a lot more panache and flair than you could possibly manage right now.

  Ben Goldacre

  Book, Might, Ends

  Ben Goldacre (2008). “Bad Science”, p.7, HarperCollins UK

  10 Copy quote

• Homeopathy pills are, after all, empty little sugar pills which seem to work, and so they embody [..] how we can be misled into thinking that any intervention is more effective than it really is.

  Ben Goldacre

  Thinking, Pills, Littles

  Ben Goldacre (2008). “Bad Science”, p.6, HarperCollins UK

  7 Copy quote

• These corporations run our culture, and they riddle it with bullshit.

  Ben Goldacre

  Running, Bullshit, Culture

  4 Copy quote

Page 1 of 2

← Prev

1

2

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin