Skepticism Quotes - Page 4

• Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good.

  Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  Agency, Government, Healthy

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• I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Religious, Men

  Letter to Benjamin Rush, 23 Sept. 1800

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• We all approached doing a sequel with great trepidation and skepticism.

  Jason Biggs

  Taxi, Sequels, Trepidation

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• The logic of validation allows us to move between the two limits of dogmatism and skepticism.

  Paul Ricoeur

  Moving, Validation, Two

  Paul Ricoeur (2006). “From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II”

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• The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

  Walter Gilbert

  Independence, Virtue, Independence Of Thought

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• Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophy, Firsts, Steps

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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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• Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

  Carl Sagan

  Inspirational, Life, Truth

  Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.145, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Skepticism rather than credulity is the highest principle that the human intellect can use to ennoble our existence.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Religion, Use, Principles

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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 try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions... Don't take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can't. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself.

  Noam Chomsky

  Wisdom, Attitude, Taken

  Institute Professor Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Noam Chomsky, Noam Chomsky, John Junkerman, Takei Masakazu (2015). “Power and Terror: Conflict, Hegemony, and the Rule of Force”, p.5, Routledge

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• I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.

  Isaac Asimov

  Believe, Independent, Science

  Isaac Asimov (1982). “Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine”

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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.

  George Santayana

  Thinking, Firsts, Surrender

  Scepticism and Animal Faith ch. 9 (1923)

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• If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.

  Woody Allen

  Funny, Witty, Money

  New Yorker, 5 Nov. 1973

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• If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.

  Timothy Keller

  Jesus, Life Changing, Teaching

  Timothy Keller (2008). “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”, p.210, Penguin

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• By skepticism . . . we arrive first at suspension of judgment, and second at freedom from disturbance.

  Sextus Empiricus

  Science, Firsts, Judgment

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• What counts is not what sounds plausible, not what we would like to believe, not what one or two witnesses claim, but only what is supported by hard evidence rigorously and skeptically examined. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

  Carl Sagan

  Believe, Two, Sound

  "Cosmos/ Encyclopaedia Galactica". Documentary, www.imdb.com. 1980.

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• Skepticism, not cleanliness, is next to godliness. Skepticism is the father of freedom. It is like the pry that holds open the door for truth to slip in.

  Gerry Spence

  Father, Doors, Next

  Gerry Spence (1999). “Give Me Liberty: Freeing Ourselves in the Twenty-First Century”, p.164, St. Martin's Press

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• If citizens wish to retain their liberty, they cannot assume that those who seek power over them are honest. Skepticism of government is one of the most important-and most forgotten-bulwarks of freedom.

  James Bovard

  Government, Wish, Important

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• Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophy, Ignorance, Knowing

  Bertrand Russell (1996). “Unpopular Essays”, p.38, Psychology Press

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• Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.

  John Templeton

  Optimism, Investing, Bulls

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• Our age is bent on trying to make the barren tree of skepticism fruitful by tying the fruits of truth on its branches.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Tree, Age, Trying

  Albert Schweitzer (1953). “Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography: Postscript 1932-1949 by Everett Skillings”

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• What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophy, Firsts, Steps

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• Science is the search for truth - it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others.

  Linus Pauling

  Science, Games, Trying

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• Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin.

  Thomas Huxley

  Religion, Atheism, Sin

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