Quotes About Skepticism

I start out by believing the worst

Among so many conflicting ideas and so many different perspectives, the honest man is confused and distressed and the skeptic becomes wicked ... Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which devastates, loots, and burns. Considering the alternative, it is better to eat than to be eaten.

To Robert Fulton: What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me, I have no time to listen to such nonsense.

the great statistician Frederick Mosteller had a point when he said, "It is easy to lie with statistics, but it is easier to lie without them." Nevertheless, there are some steps you can take to, as Huff put it, "talk back to a statistic." Among the biggies recommended by many scientists is to ask a simple question: Does the figure, finding, or correlation make sense, that is, accord with what you know of objective reality?

Sounds pretty bad. Are you sure about this?" "Oh, I'm sure." "Well, I don't know what we can do to prepare, except say our prayers." "Good luck with that, Herb. God died in 1945.

I was inspired to write this book by those who are sceptical of the power of freedom to change the world.

Sweet of her. Careful, Nicky. She'll feed your heart through her Magimix." "Well, you know me - I'm a guy who likes extreme sports.

Furthermore, having lost faith in himself, he thought it his duty to undermine the nation's faith in itself.

You poor, deluded woman...do you believe there is any such thing as love.

People love conspiracy theories.

The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there's any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all.

The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there's any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all.

Anyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets.

You can't trust other people. If it's important, you have to do it yourself.

In many ways, it was much, much harder to get the first book contract. The hardest thing probably overall has been learning not to trust people, publicists and so forth, implicitly.

Through the computer, the heralds say, we will make education better, religion better, politics better, our minds better — best of all, ourselves better. This is, of course, nonsense, and only the young or the ignorant or the foolish could believe it.

I am constantly amazed at how obediently people accept explanations that begin with the words "The computer shows …" or "The computer has determined …" It is Technopoly's equivalent of the sentence "It is God's will," and the effect is roughly the same.

Nonetheless, as incomprehensible problems mount, as the concept of progress fades, as meaning itself becomes suspect, the Technopolist stands firm in believing that what the world needs is yet more information. It is like the joke about the man who complains that the food he is being served in a restaurant is inedible and also that the portions are too small

Another possible conclusion was expressed by George Bernard Shaw, also about fifty years ago, when he wrote that the average person today is about as credulous as was the average person in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, people believed in the authority of their religion, no matter what. Today, we believe in the authority of our science, no matter what.

All cats were divine till proven otherwise; all dogs were suspect until cleared.

She struck Darden as the kind whose corpse would kick you three days after you shot her.

But he got to his feet, his brows contacted in a frown. "You weren't speaking seriously?" I moved towards the door, "It doesn't pay to be serious," I said. "It only means that people laugh behind your back, instead of to your face.

You can't trust anybody with power.

NO CREO EN LA VÍA PACÍFICA no creo en la vía violenta me gustaría creer en algo —pero no creo creer es creer en Dios lo único que yo hago es encogerme de hombros perdónenme la franqueza no creo ni en la Vía Láctea