Quotes About Skepticism

Half the civilized world makes a living by telling lies. Advertising, propaganda, and all the other forms of publicity that have taken the place of truth have taught men to take it for granted that they can tell other people whatever they like provided that it sounds plausible and evokes some kind of shallow emotional response.

Why do we get angry about what we believe? Because we do not really believe it. Or else what we pretend to be defending as the "truth" is really our own self-esteem. A man of sincerity is less interested in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if the truth be clearly seen it can very well take care of itself.

You need your intelligence and your skepticism.

The whole area of religion and spirituality invites flimflam and is filled with

It might be better to be more of a skeptic than a believer, less open-minded and more critical. The problem in the modern spiritual

My skepticism is not based on religious belief, or on a belief in any definite alternative. It is just a belief that the available scientific evidence, in spite of the consensus of scientific opinion, does not in this matter rationally require us to subordinate the incredulity of common sense. That is especially true with regard to the origin of life.

People in this town saw only what they'd all agreed to see, they believed what was on the tube or in the morning papers half of them read while they were driving to work on the freeway, and it was all their dream about being wised up, about the truth setting them free.

How, Yusef wondered, can two men joke like that and tomorrow be enemies. Perhaps they'd been enemies yesterday. He decided public servants weren't human.

You trusted people until they betrayed you, but the alternative, trusting nobody ever, turned you into one more Clive Crouchmas, and the world had enough of them already.

Paranoids are not paranoids (Proverb 5) because they're paranoid, but because they keep putting themselves, fucking idiots, deliberately into paranoid situations.

Y qué quieres?, ¿es que sólo tengo que fiarme de las buenas personas?, tío, a las buenas personas las compran y las venden todos los días. Tanto da que me fíe de algún auténtico cabrón de vez en cuando, al final viene a ser lo mismo. Quiero decir que no apostaría por ninguno de los dos.

The general public has long been divided into two parts; those who think that science can do anything and those who are afraid it will." ? Thomas Pynchon

One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.

A cynic once said that there is nothing more permanent than a temporary government policy.

lifelong benefits [to students who learn to think for themselves] include a healthy skepticism towards political slogans and a healthy desire to check out the facts before repeating rhetoric on other issues.

Before an explanation can be too simple, it must first be wrong. But often the fact that some explanation seems too simple becomes a substitute for showing that it is wrong.

Moreover, even in the absence of accumulating personal experience, it was difficult to believe that soaring murder statistics reflected simply better record keeping, since it had always been hard to ignore a dead body.

If trust and lack of experience led to errors of judgement, the only way to be safe must be to distrust everyone.

Marie had professors who said, "don't trust what people teach you, and above all what I teach you." In other words, think independently and test supposed "facts." She was in heaven.

eyed him with affectionate skepticism. "And I say ye're far too trusting at times, lad.

All my instincts tell me no.

Though a good cop, Luc Claudel has the patience of a firecracker, the sensitivity of Vlad the Impaler, and a persistent skepticism as to the value of forensic anthropology. Snappy dresser, though.

What do you think the message means?" Hi tapped the lone word on the sign. Chance snorted. "It means, Hiram, that whoever did this thinks I'm a traitor." "Join the club." Ben said.

People want to believe bad things, I tell myself, glaring around at my classroom. They want to believe the most shocking story. They see you as the worst version of yourself.