Quotes About Credulity

What age or period of life is the most addicted to superstition? The weakest and most timid. What sex? The same answer must be given.

Where men are heated by zeal and enthusiasm, there is no degree of human testimony so strong as may not be procured for the greatest absurdity. - Of Miracles

But should this miracle be ascribed to any new system of religion; men, in all ages, have been so much imposed on by ridiculous stories of that kind, that this very circumstance would be a full proof of a cheat, and sufficient, with all men of sense, not only to make them reject the fact, but even reject it without farther examination.

But should this miracle be ascribed to any new system of religion; men, in all ages, have been so much imposed on by ridiculous stories of that kind, that this very circumstance would be a full proof of a cheat, and sufficient, with all men of sense, not only to make them reject the fact, but even reject it without further examination

Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence; Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the Faded credulity of earlier ages: Let us walk through the door.

I tend to be naive and gullible, I guess, but I try to believe that governments believe what they say.

What is it men cannot be made to believe!

...instead it seems that business - like weight loss - is a subject wherein hope and fear inspire limitless gullibility.

Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print.

America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real but the moon landing was faked.

If you believe everything you read, you better not read.

La gente adopta una fe y se pone muy seria, después solemne. Empieza a creerse cuanto viene amparado o envuelto por esa fe, y entonces se vuelve estúpida.

That day, I began to be incredulous. Or, rather, I regretted having been credulous. I regretted having allowed myself to be borne away by a passion of the mind. Such is credulity.

How much he could believe of it, he did not know; for he did not know the man, and he had learned to suspect that every civilized man was a liar and a cheat until he had proved himself otherwise.

The fact that a proposition is absurd has never hindered those who wish to believe it.

It felt like lying, only better, because he couldn't be caught, and he couldn't be caught because there was nothing to verify it against. Immersed in the flow of bullshit, they had no reason, or time, not to believe him.

No sabíais que si el hombre promete demasiado a menudo más de lo que puede mantener, también amenaza no menos a menudo, más de lo que se atreve luego a cumplir? ¿No sabíais que la iniquidad no se funda sólo en sus propias fuerzas, sino también en la credulidad y el miedo ajenos?

Non sapevate che, se l'uomo promette troppo spesso più che non sia per mantenere, minaccia anche non di rado, più che non s'attenti poi di commettere? Non sapevate che l'iniquità non si fonda soltanto sulle sue forze, ma anche sulla credulità e sullo spavento altrui?

The most positive men are the most credulous.

I have a basic rule of thumb that about 2 percent of any large group will believe literally anything, no matter how preposterous it seems to the rest of us.

If you collected all the good faith in this room right now you might fill a teaspoon.

How quickly one accepts the incredible if only one sees it enough!

The only liars bigger than the quack are the quack's patients.