Skepticism Quotes - Page 2

• 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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• 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 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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• If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.

  Lord Byron

  Self, Envy, Doubt

  "Letters and Journals of Lord Byron". Book by Thomas Moore, Vol III, Chap. XVII, p. 208, 1830.

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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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• Skepticism, is that anything more than we used to mean when we said, Well, what have we here?

  Robert Frost

  Mean, Used, Said

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• Skepticism has never founded empires, established principals, or changed the world's heart. The great doers in history have always been people of faith.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Faith, Heart, People

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• The poison of skepticism becomes, like alcoholism, tuberculosis, and some other diseases, much more virulent in a hitherto virgin soil.

  Simone Weil

  Tuberculosis, Poison, Disease

  Simone Weil (1962). “Selected Essays: 1934-1943”, London, Oxford U.P

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• I am not very sceptical, — a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly serviceable .

  Charles Darwin

  Loss, Science, Men

  "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter".

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• A thing is not proved because no one has ever questioned it... Skepticism is the first step toward truth.

  Denis Diderot

  Firsts, Steps, First Steps

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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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  All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Inspirational, Witty, Truth

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “101 Facts of life”, p.4, Publishdrive

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

  Louis Pasteur

  Barren, Skeptic, Tainted

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

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• Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.

  Carl Sagan

  Knowledge, Acceptance, Science

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• Skepticism is an important historical tool. It is the starting point of all revision of hitherto accepted history.

  Samuel Eliot Morison

  Historical, Important, Tools

  Samuel Eliot Morison (1953). “By Land and by Sea: Essays and Addresses”, New York : Knopf

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• Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism--and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Keys, Agents, Evolution

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• In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

  Galileo Galilei

  Truth, Inspiration, Independent

  "Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men". Book by François Arago, as translated by Baden Powell, Robert Grant, and William Fairbairn, p. 365, 1859.

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• Skepticism means, not intellectual doubt alone, but moral doubt.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Mean, Intellectual, Doubt

  Thomas Carlyle, A.H.R. Ball (2014). “Selections from Carlyle”, p.93, Cambridge University Press

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• Skepticism is the sadism of embittered souls.

  Emile M. Cioran

  Soul, Sadism

  "History and Utopia". Book by Emile M. Cioran, 1960.

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• Criticism alone can sever the root of materialism, fatalism, atheism, free-thinking, fanaticism, and superstition, which can be injurious universally; as well as of idealism and skepticism, which are dangerous chiefly to the Schools, and hardly allow of being handed on to the public.

  Immanuel Kant

  School, Thinking, Roots

  Immanuel Kant (2013). “Immanuel Kant's Critique Of Pure Reason”, p.26, Read Books Ltd

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• Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer; there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.

  George Santayana

  Long, Lasts, Firsts

  George Santayana (1937). “The Works of George Santayana: Scepticism and animal faith. Some meanings of the word "is". Literal and symbolic knowledge. The unknowable”

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• Skepticism . . . is not intellectual only it is moral also, a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Wise, Soul, Intellectual

  Thomas Carlyle, Edwin Markham (1842). “On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History: Six Lectures, Reported, with Emendations and Additions”, p.215

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• Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Causes, Cause And Effect, Effects

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2010). “Essays and English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. V (in 51 Volumes)”, p.294, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Cautiousness in judgment is nowadays to be recommended to each and every one: if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Philosophical, Years, Would Be

  "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook A 38, 1799.

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• The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

  George Berkeley

  Men, Views, Common Sense

  George Berkeley (1949). “Works”

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