Quotes About Skepticism

No one is going to abduct me, Rae. That's what all abductees say.

Let those who believe, believe. Let those who doubt, doubt.

But did you know that eyewitness testimony is often totally unreliable? The human memory only records events through the filter of its own frame of reference. We try to fit the information we receive into schemas, units of knowledge that we possess about the world that correspond with frequently encountered situations, individuals, ideas, and situations. In other words, we often see things as we expect to see them, or want to see them, and not always as they are.

Didn't he know that she was playing him? The funny thing was that they almost never, ever did. And even after they figured it out, they doubted themselves. Wanted to believe they were wrong. Even when there was no denying that they'd been had, you could almost always go back for a second helping.

Harry Houdini had a saying that came back to Ian now and again: For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, none will suffice.

The man who assumes everything is a lie is at least as mistaken as the one who assumes everything is true.

It's so obviously bogus, no one will look for a second layer of, er, bogusity.

Damned technocrats. Nothing but horse doctors with a more expensive set of toys.

He locked his cabin door behind him and stood against it, trembling, laughing in hysterical disbelief. Dammit, he'd studied everything about Naismith, everything. This couldn't be happening. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

I'm not so in love with facts as I used to be. Sometimes, they bite.

Was that supposed to be a concession? "You can be told the whole truth all day long, but if you won't believe it, then no, I don't suppose you ever will know it." He bared his teeth in a non-smile.

Bring home one dismembered body part, once, mind you, once, and people get twitchy about checking your luggage ever after.

No. No Jeremiah Thompson. No great-uncles of any variety. No grandmother in Texas who left me an inheritance. There's probably a Texas, but if this guy is saying it, I wouldn't be too sure of even that." "I

What the hell do you want, anyway? 'I just want to help you. Yeah, right. And then he'd sell her a bridge. He didn't know her, had no vested intereset in her--unless he hoped to get laid. Ha! Fat chance. He looked like he was poor, driving that old rattrap car and dressed in faded jeans. She clenched her hands into fists. I'm not screwing you. I didn't ask you to. And then, with some sort of warped amusement, he added, I'm not that easy.

The faces of the panel listening were the very embodiment of skepticism made flesh.

Like everyone he knew, he could discern the hollowness in people's charm only when it was directed at someone other than himself. When it was directed at him, the person just seemed so totally nice.

Le monde ne sait que vous tuer comme un dormeur quand il se retourne le monde, sur vous, comme un dormeur tue ses puces. Voilà qui serait certes mourir bien sottement, que je me dis, comme tout le monde, c'est-à-dire. Faire confiance aux hommes c'est déjà se faire tuer un peu.

Não é porque ela fosse feia, não, ela poderia mesmo ser considerada bonita, como tantas outras, mas era tão prudente, tão desconfiada que parava à margem da sua beleza, como à margem da vida.

I was a child in those days, and that jail frightened me. Because I didn't know what men are like. Never again will I believe what they say or what they think. Men are the thing to be afraid of, always, men and nothing else.

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.

be wary of evidence given by others, for in all evidence there is some interpretation. The eyes see, the mind explains. But does the mind explain correctly? The mind only has what experience and education have given it, and perhaps that is not enough. Because one has seen does not mean one knows.

I have reverence for truth, but I do not know what truth is. I suspect there are many truths, and therefore, I suspect all who claim to have the truth.

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder. Yet I had faith in the intentions of my countrymen, no matter how far they might at times stray from those intentions.

done him in! Yuh deny it? Deny it? Lance stared at the man, his eyes watchful. Why, I never heard of Joe Wilkins