“It must be a very dour and pessimistic astronomer indeed who seriously doubts that there must be countless numbers of intelligent civilizations scattered throughout the universe on other planets which are orbiting around other stars. An attitude which asserts that man is the only intelligent life form in the universe is intolerably arrogant today ... anyone who holds such an opinion today is, fortunately for those who like to see some progress in human conceptions, something of an intellectual freak equivalent to a believer in the Flat Earth Theory.” MenHumansTodayEarthFormUniverseStarsNumbersAttitudeOpinionDoubtProgressPlanetsTheoryCivilizationIntellectualIntelligentBelieverFlatsConceptionFreakArrogantPessimisticAstronomersIntelligent Life Author:Robert K. G. Temple
“I remember classes in college where the professor was espousing certain theories about how blacks were inherently less intelligent. But I learned a long time ago to give people the benefit of the doubt, not to assume that somebody was reacting to you because of race.” PeopleGivingLongRememberCertainRaceClassDoubtCollegeTheoryBenefitsLong TimeIntelligentAssumingProfessorsLong Time AgoReactingBenefit Of The Doubt Author:Condoleezza Rice
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. Even those of the intelligent who believe that they have a nostrum are too individualistic to combine with other intelligent men from whom they differ on minor points.” MenWorldBelieveCausesDoubtTroubleModernStupidIntelligentFundamentalsMinorsModern WorldIntelligent ManIndividualistic Book:Mortals and Others, Volume II: American Essays 1931-1935 Source: Mortals and Others, Volume II: American Essays 1931-1935
“Be skeptical, but not as a social position, not claiming to be so intelligent that you cannot believe what other people say. It's not about being right and making everybody else wrong. No, you are skeptical because you know without a doubt that everybody lives in their own story, and in their story they have their own truth. But it's only truth in their mind, just as your truth is only truth in your mind, and nobody else's.” PeopleKnowsMindBelieveStoriesSocialDoubtPositionTruth IsIntelligentSkeptical Author:Miguel Angel Ruiz