Quotes About Skepticism

I have learned yet again (this has been going on all my life) what folly it is to take any thing for granted without examining it skeptically.

The skeptic has no illusions about life, nor a vain belief in the promise of immortality. Since this life here and now is all we can know, our most reasonable option is to live it fully.

Cynically speaking, one could say that it is true to life to be cynical about it.

We now operate in a world in which we can assume neither competence nor good faith from the authorities. The consequences of this simple, devastating realization define American life.

Almost all the progress ever made in human thought has been made by the Doubting Thomas's, the questioners, the challengers, the show-me crowd.

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

When some people come across a new idea that challenges their worldview they retreat into a tight, rigid scepticism.

Wrote a skeptical E. B. White: "Although you can take a nation's pulse, you can't be sure that the nation hasn't just run up a flight of stairs.")

relieved no one of the obligation to judge right from wrong. But it did require subjecting the past to skepticism, to look to beginnings not to justify ends, but to question them—with evidence.

Oswald watched, and said: "I don't know what you're talking about.

some well-known

The first step of wisdom is to question everything.

Beware of all politicians everywhere. They excelled at recess when they were in school but have excelled at little since.

I told her the world was full of nice people. I'd have hated to try to prove it to her, but I said it, anyway.

Griffin's narrow, crooked smile held a hint of derision. "You are a romantic, then." "No. Not at all. But I hold out hope that others might be.

You can almost always find chains of coincidence to disprove magic.

O senhor saiba: eu toda a minha vida pensei por mim, forro, sou nascido diferente. Eu sou é eu mesmo. Divêrjo de todo o mundo... Eu quase que nada não sei. Mas desconfio de muita coisa.

Os olhos, por enquanto, são a porta do engano; duvide deles, dos seus, não de mim.

Reconhecer que somos irmãos é sempre suspeito, quando esse reconhecer envolve, de nossa parte, a aceitação de condições duras e, da outra parte, não envolve nada além de palavras

But it's possible to be wry and somewhat skeptical about the tedious, expensive process of saint-making without losing sight of the person at the center. Without saints, sanctity might be considered only as an abstraction. Saints help us see how a spiritual life can be lived in many different ways and under many different social and historical circumstances.

If she's really psychic," Zack said when he saw Tanisha's photo at school, "why does she need a doorbell?

The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.

The purpose of studying economics is to learn how not to be deceived by economists.

I think from now on, I will not trust anyone who isn't angry.