Gullibility Quotes

• Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Sports, Men, Hands

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.39, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• When emotion supersedes reason ... gullibility must follow.

  Barbara Mertz

  Emotion, Reason

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• 

  Be open minded, but not so open minded that your brains fall out.

  Groucho Marx

  Fall, Brain, Open Minded

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• The best way to compel weak-minded people to adopt our opinion, is to frighten them from all others, by magnifying their danger.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Fear, People, Way

  Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Eugenia Stanhope (1827). “Letters Written by the Earl of Chesterfield to His Son”, p.352

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• Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous. . . .

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Religion, Reason

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.360

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• Extreme skepticism and extreme gullibility are two equal ways of not having to think at all. And I don't think I'm the first to say that.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Thinking, Two, Way

  Source: www.npr.org

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• the most important quality of an inept person is to rely on popular belief and hearsay.

  Marie de Gournay

  Important, Quality, Belief

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• Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print.

  E. B. White

  Believe, People, Trust Me

  "Fictional character: Charlotte". "Charlotte's Web", www.imdb.com. 1973.

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• Nothing convinces persons of a weak understanding so effectually, as what they do not comprehend.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Ignorance, Understanding, Weak

  Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield (1855). “The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author”, p.629

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• Credulity is always a ridiculous, often a dangerous failing: it has made of many a clever man, a fool; and of many a good man, a knave.

  Frances Wright

  Clever, Men, Good Man

  Frances Wright (1831). “A Few Days in Athens: Being the Translation of a Greek Manuscript Discovered in Herculaneum”, p.31

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• And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

  Khaled Hosseini

  Honesty, Mean, Thinking

  Khaled Hosseini (2004). “The Kite Runner”, p.52, Penguin

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• Faith never means gullibility. The man who believes everything is as far from God as the man who refuses to believe anything.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Believe, Mean, Men

  "The Root of the Righteous". Book by Aiden Wilson Tozer, 1955.

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• For every credibility gap there is a gullibility gap.

  Richard Cobden

  Gaps, Credibility

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• There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.

  Michael Moore

  People, Sides, Gullible

  Michael Moore (2004). “Dude, Where's My Country?”, ePenguin

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• What is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones.

  Carl Sagan

  Hands, Ideas, Two

  "The Burden of Skepticism". The Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 12, Issue 1, www.csicop.org. Fall 1987.

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• When people are bewildered they tend to become credulous.

  Calvin Coolidge

  People, Bewildered, Credulity

  Calvin Coolidge (1972). “Calvin Coolidge says: dispatches written by former-president Coolidge and syndicated to newspapers in 1930-1931 : gathered for issuance in book form on the one-hundredth anniversary of Mr. Coolidge's birth, 4 July 1972”

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• The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

  Isaac Asimov

  Sleep, Next Day, Matter

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• if we don't stand for something, you may be sure we will fall for anything.

  Irene Dunne

  Fall, Principles, May

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• Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

  Aristotle

  Hope, Philosophical, Youth

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• The only disadvantage of an honest heart is credulity.

  Philip Sidney

  Honesty, Lying, Heart

  Sir Philip Sidney, Jane Porter (1807). “Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney: With Remarks”, p.23

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• Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.

  Eric Hoffer

  Calumny Is, Knows, Credulity

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Vanity is easily duped. Ambition, not.

  Mason Cooley

  Ambition, Vanity

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• Because desperation breeds gullibility. People want to lose weight so much that their common sense shuts off.

  David L. Katz

  People, Common Sense, Weight

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• You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright, but we'll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you'll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won't have to fight you. We'll so weaken your economy until you'll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.

  Nikita Khrushchev

  Fall, Acceptance, Fighting

  "They Never Said it: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions". Book by Paul F. Boller and John H. George, 1990.

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• Swindlers are notoriously gullible.

  Mason Cooley

  Gullible, Swindlers

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