S Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with S. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to no matter what.”
“Skepticism is not a position; it's a process.”
“Skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.”
Source: Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
“Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths.”
Source: Strictly personal
“Skepticism is only a time-based reality, and as an ultimate reality, it's always wrong, because everything always happens.”
“Skepticism is provisional, even if it lasts a lifetime.”
“Skepticism is slow suicide.”
Source: The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871
“Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism--and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.”
“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer.”
“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer; there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.”
Source: The Works of George Santayana: Scepticism and animal faith. Some meanings of the word
“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect...”
“Skepticism is the elegance of anxiety.”
Source: All Gall is Divided: Gnomes and Apothegms
“Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.”
“Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin.”
“Skepticism is the sadism of embittered souls.”
“Skepticism is thus a resting-place for human reason, where it can reflect upon its dogmatic wanderings and make survey of the region in which it finds itself, so that for the future it may be able to choose its path with more certainty. But it is no dwelling-place for permanent settlement. Such can be obtained only through perfect certainty in our knowledge, alike of the objects themselves and of the limits within which all our knowledge of objects is enclosed.”
Source: Critique of pure reason
“Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect.”
Source: Essays and English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. V (in 51 Volumes)
“Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect. A man does not see, that, as he eats, so he thinks: as he deals, so he is, and so he appears; he does not see that his son is the son of his thoughts and of his actions; that fortunes are not exceptions but fruits; that relation and connection are not somewhere and sometimes, but everywhere and always; no miscellany, no exemption, no anomaly,--but method, and an even web; and what comes out, that was put in.”
Source: Essays and English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. V (in 51 Volumes)
“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.”
Source: The Field of Philosophy: An Outline of Lectures on Introduction to Philosophy
“Skepticism may undermine beliefs, but never belief.”
“Skepticism means, not intellectual doubt alone, but moral doubt.”
Source: Selections from Carlyle
“Skepticism must go hand in hand with rationality. When theories are shown to be false, the correct thing to do is to move on.”
“Skepticism rather than credulity is the highest principle that the human intellect can use to ennoble our existence.”
“Skepticism relieved two terrible diseases that afflicted mankind: anxiety and dogmatism.”
“Skepticism requires disbelief and curiosity, not conformity to conventional wisdom. There's no science here. This is pure politics.”
“Skepticism turns to cynicism, which leads to apathy and despair, which can cause sleeplessness, dry-mouth, and loss of sex drive?”
“Skepticism was a drug for him. Life's vicissitudes had taught him never to be caught without it. A most useful drug, it magically invigorated his heart, transforming opprobrium into piety and ignominy into tolerance.”
Source: Op Oloop
“Skepticism's bad rap arises from the impression that, however necessary the activity, it can only be regarded as a negative removal of false claims. Not so... Proper debunking is done in the interest of an alternate model of explanation, not as a nihilistic exercise. The alternate model is rationality itself, tied to moral decency--the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.”
“Skepticism, as I said, is not intellectual only; it is moral also; a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul. A man lives by believing something; not by debating and arguing about many things. A sad case for him when all that he can manage to believe is something he can button in his pocket, and with one or the other organ eat and digest! Lower than that he will not get.”
Source: On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History: Six Lectures, Reported, with Emendations and Additions
“Skepticism, is that anything more than we used to mean when we said, Well, what have we here?”
“Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.”
“Skepticism, not cleanliness, is next to godliness. Skepticism is the father of freedom. It is like the pry that holds open the door for truth to slip in.”
Source: Give Me Liberty: Freeing Ourselves in the Twenty-First Century
“Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.”
Source: John Christopher: Journey's end
“Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.”
Source: The Essential Dewey: Pragmatism, education, democracy
“Skeptics always want miracles such as stepping down from the Cross, but never the greater miracle of forgiveness.”
“Skeptics might argue that pharmaceutical companies will fight anything that casts their products in a dubious light - especially if it results in people using lower doses across the board - but the truth is that, for many drug companies, reliable information on the placebo effect can't come soon enough. To pass muster, a drug must outperform placebo. But a 2001 study of antidepressant drug trials showed that while drug efficacy is rising, placebo rates are rising faster. It's almost ironic; the factors behind this are many and varied, but a significant contributor is our society's knowledge of - and belief in - the power of medicines. The pharmaceutical industry's palpable success means that unless something radical happens, it could soon be, like the Red Queen, running to stand still.”
Source: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time
“Skeptics of DID have generally not seen a real multiple, probably because alters, having been created by abuse, do not readily reveal themselves to practioners who are unwilling to accept their reality.”
“Skeptics squat by the road like guardians of truth, letting no one pass who doesn't come up to scratch. They never realize that they can see only what their paradigm tells them to look for. If you judge a person only by how well he plays pool, Mozart won't pass scrutiny, but the fault is in your lens.”
Source: War of the Worldviews: Where Science and Spirituality Meet -- and Do Not
“Skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.”
Source: Know Doubt: The Importance of Embracing Uncertainty in Your Faith (Large Print 16pt)
“Skeptics, who flatly deny the existence of any unexplained phenomenon in the name of 'rationalism,' are among the primary contributors to the rejection of science by the public. People are not stupid and they know very well when they have seen something out of the ordinary. When a so-called expert tells them the object must have been the moon or a mirage, he is really teaching the public that science is impotent or unwilling to pursue the study of the unknown.”
“Sketch what you got, it will determine what you will be.”
“Sketchbooks are fascinating; they are a window into an artist's or designer's mind, revealing their unique way of looking at or thinking about the world. However, the sketchbook has become a much fetishised object featured in countless books, blog's and social-media accounts showcasing stylised and curated examples that few can emulate. It is no wonder that at some point on the Foundation course every student articulates anxiety or frustration over their own sketchbook: it's too big, too small, too messy, too contrived, I can't draw, what's it for?
So why do we work with a sketchbook and what is it really for?”
Source: The Central Saint Martins Guide to Art & Design: Key lessons from the world-renowned Foundation course
“Sketches always have more vitality than paintings because you're finding things out through doing them.”
“Sketches have characters, exits, entrances and are vastly different.”
“Sketches of mad skies spilling stars caught in spiraling gyres, diagrams for constructing sextants tall as a man and armillary spheres to mimic the motion of the cosmos. He decides that he must have all of it, that he will cram the little observatory with maps and charts, clocks and compasses, and instruments for bringing the sky nearer.”
“Sketching is a continuing source of learning rather than a string of performances.”
“Sketching is the breath of art: it is the most refreshing of all the more impulsive forms of creative self-expression and, as such, it should be as free, and happy, as a song in the bath.”
“Sketching on a regular basis requires you to pay close attention to the visual world around you. With practice, you begin to see things you never noticed before.”
“Sketchy black van? Weird stalking of my house? What are you going to do next, offer me some candy?”
Source: Saving June
“Sketchy: I'm no stranger to stoner logic.”