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Doubt Quotes

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Doubt Quotes

“William James used to preach the "will-to-believe." For my part, I should wish to preach the "will-to-doubt." None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.”

Should Believe Wanted Used Belief Wish Doubt Opposites Errors Vagueness

Author:Bertrand Russell

“But since the Modernists (as they are commonly and rightly called) employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines without order and systematic arrangement into one whole, scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while they are in reality firm and steadfast, it will be of advantage, Venerable Brethren, to bring their teachings together here into one group, and to point out the connexion between them, and thus to pass to an examination of the sources of the errors, and to prescribe remedies for averting the evil.”

“It is probably true that almost all atheists stand for the values of reason and freethought. I will attempt to put these values in more substantial terms. There is the belief that inquiry and doubt are essential checks against deception, self deception, and error. There is the belief that logic and the scientific method is the only way the world can arrive at an agreement on the truth about anything.”

World Way Self Reason Values Belief Term Doubt Atheism Essentials Logic Method Errors Atheist Checks Deception Agreement Inquiry Self Deception Scientific Method

Author:Richard Carrier

“A bending staff I would not break, A feeble faith I would not shake, Nor even rashly pluck away The error which some truth may stay, Whose loss might leave the soul without A shield against the shafts of doubt.”

May Soul Might Faith Loss Break Doubt Errors Shakes Staff Shields Pluck Bending

Book:Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier

Source: Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier

“We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty.”

Doubt Errors Trials Certainty Impulse Resisting Trial And Error

Book:Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

Source: Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

“Another error is an impatience of doubt and haste to assertion without due and mature suspension of judgment. For the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients; the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation; if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

Ifs Men Way Two Ends Action Doubt Healthy Judgment Fairs Errors Dues Certainty Contemplation Rough Mature Skepticism Smooth Impatience Two Ways Assertion Haste Entrances Troublesome Suspension

Author:Francis Bacon

“The registering of doubts hath two excellent uses: the one, that it saveth philosophy from errors and falsehoods; when that which is not fully appearing is not collected into assertion, whereby error might draw error, but reserved in doubt: the other, that the entry of doubts are as so many suckers or sponges to draw use of knowledge; insomuch as that which, if doubts had not preceded, a man should never have advised, but passed it over without note, by the suggestion and solicitation of doubts, is made to be attended and applied.”

“No doubt you are as alarmed as I by the tragic decline in America's language skills. If 10 people read the following sentence: Two tanker trucks has just overturned in Alaska, spilling a totel of 10,000 gallons of beer onto a highway. two would find an error in subject-verb agreement, two would find an error in spelling, and six would find a sponge and drive north.”

“The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”

Should Government Might Faces Clear Doubt Information Errors Abstract Officials Openness Embarrassed Presumption Disclosure Public Officials Confidential

Author:Barack Obama

“As soon as we ask what faith is and what sort of mistreatment of faith causes doubt, we are led to the first major misconception about doubt-the idea that doubt is always wrong because it is the opposite of faith and the same thing as unbelief. What this error leads to is a view of faith that is unrealistic and a view of doubt that is unfair.”

Firsts Ideas Asks Causes Views Doubt Majors Opposites Errors Unfair Misconception Unbelief Always Wrong Mistreatment

Author:Os Guinness

“You still want to be thoughtful about what you do, no doubt, but you have to learn through trial-and-error experimentation as well.”

Want Wells Stills Doubt Errors Trials No Doubt Thoughtful Experimentation Trial And Error

Author:Scott D. Anthony