Plausible Quotes - Page 2

• The world in which we live can be understood as a result of muddle and accident; but if it is the outcome of deliberate purpose, the purpose must have been that of a fiend. For my part, I find accident a less painful and more plausible hypothesis.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religion, Purpose, World

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.93, Simon and Schuster

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• When I create a false reality, I always try to create a plausible structure to help convince people.

  Joey Skaggs

  Reality, People, Trying

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• I think utopianism and eschatology are really two sides of the same coin. They both assume that some massively transformative event is going to happen that's going to completely change the nature of society. They only disagree on whether we get a happy ending or all die horribly. And so utopianism is on the wane right now because at the moment most of the plausible candidates for huge historical transformation look like they're going to kill us.

  Phillip Sandifer

  Thinking, Two Sides, Historical

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• Reality is not always probable, or likely. But if you're writing a story, you have to make it as plausible as you can, because if not, the reader's imagination will reject it.

  Jorge Luis Borges

  Writing, Reality, Imagination

  "Worldwide Laws of Life : 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles". Book by John Templeton, 1998.

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• It is a poor head that cannot find plausible reason for doing what the heart wants to do.

  Richard Hofstadter

  Heart, Want, Reason

  Richard Hofstadter (2011). “The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made it”, p.231, Vintage

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• I became so desperate that I considered throwing Eric [Beck] off the ledge. I thought I could get down and then lie about what had happened. To my addled brain, this was plausible. Then I came to my senses and woke Eric up and told him that either he had to retreat or I'd throw him off. We went down and I never climbed again for a quarter of a century.

  Dave Cook

  Lying, Climbing, Brain

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• The idea that information can be stored in a changing world without an overwhelming depreciation of its value is false. It is scarcely less false than the more plausible claim that after a war we may take our existing weapons, fill their barrels with information.

  Norbert Wiener

  War, Ideas, Information

  Norbert Wiener (1954). “The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society”

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• The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory.

  Arthur Eddington

  Thinking, Ideas, Design

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• ...eating animals involves an intentional decision to participate in the suffering and death of nonhumans where there is no plausible moral justification.

  Gary L. Francione

  Animal, Suffering And Death, Decision

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• Those who can envision a plausible future that's brighter than today will earn the opportunity to lead.

  Ray Ozzie

  Opportunity, Today, Brighter

  'Apple's iPad tablet eats into PC market" by Charles Arthur, www.theguardian.com. November 29, 2010.

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• The more we refine our understanding of God to make the concept plausible, the more it seems pointless.

  Steven Weinberg

  Understanding, Seems, Concepts

  Steven Weinberg (1992). “Dreams of a Final Theory”, Pantheon

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• Whereas if I want to create a prostitute character now from memories of different prostitutes and inventing stuff, I can say, "this could happen," "this is quite plausible." But I don't feel I know enough about border life to do the latter.

  William T. Vollmann

  Memories, Character, Different

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• I suspect that a lot of the stress we see around us arises from the cognitive dissonance set up by one side of the brain hearing very plausible spin while the other side knows it just ain't so.

  David Palmer

  Stress, Brain, Cognitive Dissonance

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• What you need for a participatory system to work: "a plausible promise, an effective tool, and an acceptable bargain."

  Clay Shirky

  Promise, Needs, Tools

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• Like my parents, I have never been a regular church member or churchgoer. It doesn't seem plausible to me that there is the kind of God who watches over human affairs, listens to prayers, and tries to guide people to follow His precepts - there is just too much misery and cruelty for that.

  Benjamin Spock

  Prayer, People, Parent

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• It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt - are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others.

  Eric Hoffer

  Strong, Practice, Feelings

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• I'd never been interested in the Kennedy assassination until '88, when I read Libra. And from that point, I went out and bought the existing Kennedy theory books, most of which are outlandish. But what DeLillo posits - some rogue CIA guys - is the most dramatically sound, plausible explanation for it.

  James Ellroy

  Book, Guy, Sound

  Interview with Chris Wallace, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 9, 2014.

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• When you're in zero gravity everything moves at the same speed and nothing stops it. If you throw something it travels forever but it still travels at the speed you threw it at. To make it plausible, movies have chosen to show it in slow motion.

  Danny Boyle

  Zero, Moving, Forever

  "Sunshine - Danny Boyle interview". Interview with Rob Carnevale, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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• This is actually a very important principle that science is learning about large systems like evolution and that futurists are learning about anticipating human society: just because a future scenario is plausible doesn't mean we can get there from here.

  Kevin Kelly

  Mean, Important, Principles

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• The stultifying effect of the movies is not that the children see them but that their parents do, as if Hollywood provided a plausible adult recreation to grow up into.

  Paul Goodman

  Movie, Children, Growing Up

  Paul Goodman (2011). “Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society”, p.76, New York Review of Books

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• As in the instances of alchemy, astrology, witchcraft, and other such popular creeds, political economy, has a plausible idea at the root of it.

  John Ruskin

  Ideas, Roots, Astrology

  John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.229, University of Virginia Press

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• The hallmark of good science is the testing of a plausible hypothesis that is then either supported or rejected by the evidence.

  Willie Soon

  Hallmark, Hypothesis, Rejected

  "It's the Sun, stupid!: New direct evidence demonstrate that changes in solar activity influence climate". Essay by Willie Soon, March 9, 2009.

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• It is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals that their maxims have a plausible air; and, on a cursory view, appear equal to first principles. They are light and portable. They are as current as copper coin; and about as valuable.

  Edmund Burke

  Light, Air, Views

  Edmund Burke (1963). “Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches”, p.171, Transaction Publishers

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• Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.

  Harry Turtledove

  Fiction, Happens

  Interview with Matt Mitrovich, amazingstoriesmag.com. March 24, 2015.

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• Plausible development, building from what we know about what really did go on, and a whacking good story… Surrounded by Enemies delivers on both, big-time. So hold on to your hats, folks. You’re in for quite a ride.

  Harry Turtledove

  Enemy, Stories, Development

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