Skeptic Quotes - Page 3

• Science is the search for truth.

  Linus Pauling

  Science, Rejection, Skepticism

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• She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Atheist, Philosophical, Atheism

  "The Words". Book by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1964.

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• The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'

  Isaac Asimov

  Inspirational, Funny, Motivational

  "Betting On a Bass That Belts Them Out; Singing Fish Becomes Season’s Unlikely Hit" by Darragh Johnson, The Washington Post, July 30, 2000.

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• Advances are Made by Answering Questions. Discoveries are Made by Questioning Answers.

  Bernard Haisch

  Wisdom, Science, Discovery

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  The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

  Bertrand Russell

  Education, Confidence, Wisdom

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• It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

  Carl Sagan

  Death, Witty, Atheist

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.32, Ballantine Books

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• Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect...

  George Santayana

  Skepticism, Intellect, Chastity

  "Scepticism and Animal Faith". Book by George Santayana, 1923.

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Science, Theoretical Physics

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987.

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  Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

  Philip K. Dick

  Atheist, Real, Believe

  Valis ch. 5 (1981). Originally appeared in a 1978 lecture by Dick entitled "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart in Two Days." See Paktor 1

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• Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism.

  David Suzuki

  Education, Positive Energy, Important

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• The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism.

  George Jean Nathan

  Atheism, Forests, Sound

  George Jean Nathan (1971). “Materia, Critica: New Introd. by Charles Angoff”, p.5, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

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• Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Mean, Science

  Carl Sagan (1979). “Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science”, Random House Inc

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• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

  Bertrand Russell

  Education, Truth, Religion

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

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• Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.

  John Dewey

  Mind, Mark, Posing

  John Dewey, Larry Hickman, Thomas M. Alexander (1998). “The Essential Dewey: Pragmatism, education, democracy”, p.28, Indiana University Press

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• I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

  Susan B. Anthony

  Inspirational, God, Death

  Lynn Sherr, Susan B. Anthony (1995). “Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words”, Crown

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• The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Life, Religious, Atheist

  George Bernard Shaw (1993). “The Complete Prefaces: 1914-1929”, Viking Adult

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Learning, Humility

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference in 1987. "Do Science and the Bible Conflict?" Book by Judson Poling, p. 30, 2003.

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• The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found.

  Miguel de Unamuno

  Mean, Thinking, Religion

  Miguel de Unamuno (1925). “Essays and Soliloquies”

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• A skeptic as to all ideas, including especially my own, I have never suffered a pang when the ideas of some other imbecile prevailed.

  H. L. Mencken

  Ideas, Envy, Imbeciles

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.163, Vintage

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• Question with boldness even the existence of a god.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Atheist, Faith Religion

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.90, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant.

  H. L. Mencken

  Inspirational, Men, Progress

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.416, Knopf

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• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Learning, Knowledge, Parenting

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

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• Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism.

  Louis Pasteur

  Barren, Skepticism, Tainted

  The Louisville & Nashville Employes' Magazine, Volume 20, p. 28, 1944.

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• Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

  Adam Smith

  Science, Flames, Enthusiasm

  The Wealth of Nations Bk V, Ch. 1

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• The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose. Foolish people ask you, when you have spoken what they do not wish to hear, 'How do you know it is truth, and not an error of your own?' We know truth when we see it, from opinion, as we know when we are awake that we are awake.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Truth, Mistake, Errors

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.391, Library of America

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