Quotes About Credibility

I don't name sources.

History is one of the only fields where contributions by amateurs are taken seriously, providing you follow the rules and document your sources. In history, it's what you write, not what your credentials are.

I don't like when people come out and say 'sources say' and this and that. Listen, if you can't put your name behind it, then don't say it. I don't believe in that.

Just shouting about 'facts' will get you nowhere with those who no longer trust the sources that produce them.

We really should stop taking historical novelists seriously as historians. The idea that they have authority is ludicrous. They are very good at imagining character: that's why the novels sell. They have no authority when it comes to the handling of historical sources. Full stop.

I could only defend myself so much. It was my word against his. There was no evidence, nor was there any proof. My word meant very little.

Our need for instant gratification is the reason we're drawn to liars and hot air blowers.

I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest.

You cannot afford to suggest to another person, by word of mouth or in writing, or through any act, that which you yourself do not believe.

never trust the words of a man who is not free.

Avoid taking advice from someone who gives advice for a living, unless there is a penalty for their advice.

Your reputation is harmed the most by what you say to defend it.

certain professionals, while believing they are experts, are in fact not. Based on their empirical record, they do not know more about their subject matter than the general population, but they are much better at narrating—or, worse, at smoking you with complicated mathematical models. They are also more likely to wear a tie.

Someone with a high public presence who is controversial and takes risks for his opinion is less likely to be a bullshit vendor.

Let us remember that economists are evaluated on how intelligent they sound, not on a scientific measure of their knowledge of reality.

Double a man's erudition; you will halve his citations.

Unreliable people carried less weight than reliable ones. You can't fool people more than twice.*1

What sounds intelligent in a conversation or a meeting, or, particularly, in the media, is suspicious.

When you don't have debt you don't care about your reputation in economics circles—and somehow it is only when you don't care about your reputation that you tend to have a good one. Just as in matters of seduction, people lend the most to those who need them the least.

that they wouldn't advertise it so loudly if it weren't good for their bottom line.

Half the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears.

No amount of advertising will match the credibility of a genuine user.

I'm so thankful to be alive right now, he could take credit for the faked lunar landings and I wouldn't care.

People who spread rumors...like lies better than they like the truth. Don't trust anyone who spreads rumors.