Quotes About Skepticism

Elections are a Western jerk-off.

There is a terrible alienation in the ordinary man between what he is being told and what he secretly believes.

A man who saw a miracle would reject his eyes' witness, if those with him saw nothing.

Men are able to trust one another, knowing the exact degree of dishonesty they are entitled to expect.

That our intuition could lead us astray is troubling in direct proportion to the degree of trust we place in it. The solution would seem to be: Don't be overly trusting. Mix in a healthy dose of skepticism. But suppose we don't have a say in the matter? Suppose we're hardwired to trust—to believe in—our instincts, regardless of whether they're right? Suddenly the problem of not knowing becomes a lot more complicated.

Diggs lubricated her skepticism with diplomacy.

Theater is like the leopards, Clem told Diggs. It disrupts the status quo, she tried. Until its ideas bring about lasting change by getting incorporated in society. Maybe. Diggs lubricated her skepticism with diplomacy. She's good at that. But if we're talking expedience, law has it all over art, bambina.

I wouldn't say that I dislike the young. I'm simply not a fan of naïveté.

I doubt there's ever been a true thing said on Fox. Maybe the weather report, maybe not.

not that anyone was actually keeping one.

I'm not going to do that," she said. "With my luck, the deputy that comes will be one of the assholes who did this or, at the very least, someone who sympathizes with them.

We are pragmatists. We don't stick to any ideology. Does it work? Let's try it, and if it does work, fine, let's continue it. If it doesn't work, toss it out, try another one. We are not enamored with any ideology.

They had no confidence in themselves and even less in their own kind.

The Jews proposed the ridiculous story that the guards had fallen asleep. Obviously, they were grasping at straws. But the point is this: they started with the assumption that the tomb was vacant! Why? Because they knew it was!

Skepticism literally means a thoughtful inquiry, the looking at a problem in a disinterested spirit, the surveying of a question from many sides. In this sense it is the very essence of philosophy and science.

when meeting someone, our brains are in overdrive. Remember Shakespeare's Julius Caesar? He said of Cassius, he "has a lean and hungry look . . . he thinks too much . . . such men are dangerous.

Members of your family might say they are working hard all day long, while you are off at school or clarinet lessons, but the only way to know this for sure is to follow them at a discreet distance.

The quoting of an aphorism, like the angry barking of a dog or the smell of overcooked broccoli, rarely indicates that something helpful is about to happen.

He looked like the sort of person who would tell you that he did not have an umbrella to lend you when he actually had several and simply wanted to see you get soaked.

You can't believe everything you read.

It is always better to ask a question than to answer one.

What kind of funny?" I asked her. "Funny like a clown onstage? Or funny like a clown hanging around the entrance to a bank?" -"The bank one.

As I'm sure you know, it is rarely a good idea to get into an automobile with somebody you haven't met before, particularly if that person believes in such nonsense as 'No news is good news.' But it is never a good idea to stand around a flat and empty landscape while the police are closing in to arrest you for a crime you have not committed.

being skeptical is a good thing for a journalist, because it means you don't completely trust anyone.