Quotes About Skepticism

Look, suppose you're an official in the National Science Foundation, and a guy comes to you and says: Listen I have this interesting idea, give me $100,000 and I'll work on it. And then 50 of the most respected people in the field come up to you and say: Look, the guy's crazy, that can't be true. Who are you going to believe? You're going to end up supporting a very conservative, middle brow scientific institution. It's hopeless.

Don't trust anyone over thirty.

People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.

If they make you put on a suit, it's because they are going to do something horrible to you. I guarantee it.

set your own rules and stick to them; never argue with the market; never make a play you can't afford; never give way to irrational exuberance. Above all, don't be a sucker.

The burden of proof is not on Astrology to prove that it does work. The burden of proof is on skeptics and cynics to give us evidence that would dissuade the millions of people who believe in it to go the other way.

El pensamiento crítico es la única arma y la única defensa que tiene el ser humano frente a los peligros de la vida. Porque si yo no pienso críticamente, estaré sujeto a todas las influencias, a todas las sugerencias, a todos los errores y a todas las mentiras que se difunden, y con lo que me han adoctrinado desde pequeño. (...)

The understanding of the operation of unconscious elements has taught us to be sceptical towards words and not to take them at face value.

Früher war das Geschenk etwas ganz anderes als die Ware. Heute ist das Geschenk eine Ware, die null Mark kostet. Diese Billigkeit macht den Käufer misstrauisch. Sicher ein faules Geschäft, denkt er.

On devient mélancolique lorsqu'on pense à la vie... cynique lorsqu'on voit ce qu'en font la plupart des gens.

Her blind endorsement of Hitler's regime first faded to a kind of sympathetic skepticism, but as summer approached

There were always those passengers who came aboard bearing grudges against the modern age.

I didn't believe all her stories," Martha wrote later. "I thought she was exaggerating and a bit hysterical." When Martha left her hotel she witnessed no violence, saw no one cowering in fear, felt no oppression.

confidence men

Suzanne glanced over at her, eyebrow raised. "Is there an anaconda?" she asked, like it had suddenly occurred to her she could be totally wrong. Tamara should only be so lucky. "No, there's no anaconda, I can promise you that." Not even a garden snake.

I have been asked to take up a ghost, Carlyle began to explain. Then I don't believe in it, declared Carrados. Why not? Because it is a pushful, notoriety-loving ghost, or it would not have gone so far. Probably it wants to get into The Daily Mail.

I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when their stories hold together

In those days we did not trust anyone who had not been in the war, but we did not completely trust anyone.

You may not believe this. No one believes this, but it is true.

Robert Jordan knew that now his papers were being examined by the man who could not read.

Con not, that thou be not conned.

Desconfio de todas as pessoas francas e simples, principalmente quando suas histórias são coerentes.

Desconfío de todas las personas francas y sencillas, especialmente cuando sus historias parecen tener lógica

I do not think they believed a word of the story and I thought it was silly but it was like a law-court. You did not want something reasonable, you wanted something technical and then stuck to it without explanations.