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Fallacy Quotes

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Fallacy Quotes

“When science shall have effectually demonstrated to us the origin of matter, and proved the fallacy of the occultists and old philosophers who held (as their descendants now hold) that matter is but one of the correlations of spirit, then will the world of skeptics have a right to reject the old Wisdom, or throw the charge of obscenity in the teeth of the old religions.”

WorldMatterSpiritPhilosopherTeethRejectsSkepticFallacyDescendantsCorrelationObscenityOld Wisdom
Book:Isis Unveiled: (Two Volumes in a Slipcase)
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“Those who have read history with discrimination know the fallacy of those panegyrics and invectives which represent individuals as effecting great moral and intellectual revolutions, subverting established systems, and imprinting a new character on their age. The difference between one man and another is by no means so great as the superstitious crowd suppose.”

KnowsMenMeanCharacterAgeIndividualDifferencesMoralGreatnessRevolutionIntellectualCrowdsDiscriminationOne ManFallacySuperstitiousImprinting
Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
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“The largest cultural menace in America is the conformity of the intellectual cliques which, in education as well as the arts, are out to impose upon the nation their modish fads and fallacies, and have nearly succeeded in doing so. In this cultural issue, we are, without reservations, on the side of excellence (rather than "newness") and of honest intellectual combat (rather than conformity).”

WellsArtAmericaNationsSidesIssuesHonestIntellectualExcellenceConformityCombatMenaceFallacyReservationsFadsNewnessCliqueCultural Issues
Author:William F. Buckley, Jr.
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“Facts are stubborn things, but, as some one has wisely said, not half so stubborn as fallacies.”

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Book:The Complete Novels of Lucy Maud Montgomery - 20 Titles in One Volume: Including Anne of Green Gables Series, Emily Starr Trilogy, The Blue Castle, The Story Girl & Pat of Silver Bush Series: Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Ingleside, Anne's House of Dreams, Rainbow Valley, Emily of New Moon, The Golden Road, Magic for Marigold, A Tangled Web, Jane of Lantern Hill & many more
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“A prevalent fallacy is the assumption that a proof of an afterlife would also be a proof of the existence of a deity. This is far from being the case. If, as I hold, there is no good reason to believe that a god either created or presides over this world, there is equally no good reason to believe that a god created or presides over the next world, on the unlikely supposition that such a thing exists.”

IfsWorldBelieveReasonNextExistenceCasesThis WorldProofAssumptionAfterlifeUnlikelyDeitiesFallacySupposition
Author:A.J. Ayer
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“The words 'theory' and 'practice' are of Greek origin; they carry our thoughts back to the ancient philosophers by whom they were contrived, and by whom they were also contrasted and placed in opposition, as denoting two mutually conflicting and mutually inconsistent ideas. ... [this fallacy] based on a double system of natural laws retarded for centuries the development of physical science, notably mechanics.”

TwoIdeasLawNaturalPracticeCenturyTheoryDevelopmentAncientPhilosopherGreekOppositionOur ThoughtsMechanicFallacyNatural LawInconsistentRetardedPhysical ScienceTheory And Practice
Author:William John Macquorn Rankine
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“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man's troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”

ThinkingMenYearsHas BeensFactsLastsChangeEnvironmentTroubleHe ManTerribleHundredDuesLawyerParadiseTragicMisconceptionFallacy
Book:Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
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“At least half of the popular fallacies about economics come from assuming that economic activity is a zero-sum game, in which what is gained by someone is lost by someone else. But transactions would not continue unless both sides gained, whether in international trade, employment, or renting an apartment.”

GamesLostSidesHalfEconomicActivityEconomicsTradeAssumingInternationalEmploymentZeroApartmentBoth SidesFallacyTransactionsInternational TradeZero Sum Game
Author:Thomas Sowell
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“Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the free and inoffensive use of his faculties for physical, intellectual and moral self-improvement. Instead, it is demanded that the law should directly extend welfare, education, and morality throughout the nation. This is the seductive lure of socialism. And I repeat: these two uses of the law are in direct contradiction to each other.”

ShouldTwoSelfUseLawNationsMoralCitizensMoralityIntellectualSelf ImprovementDirectImprovementSocialismWelfareSufficientOur TimeRepeatsEncountersGuaranteesContradictionFacultySeductiveFallacyLure
Book:The Law
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“One of the overriding points of Liberal Fascism is that all of the totalitarian "isms" of the left commit the fallacy of the category error. They all want the state to be something it cannot be. They passionately believe the government can love you, that the state can be your God or your church or your tribe or your parent or your village or all of these things at once. Conservatives occasionally make this mistake, libertarians never do, liberals almost always do.”

WantBelieveStatesGovernmentLeftParentChurchMistakeLove YouErrorsLibertarianCommitVillageCategoriesFascismTribesFallacyIsms
Author:Jonah Goldberg
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“When I saw the sun bears at the Oakland Zoo, I immediately was drawn to them. Not to be ornery, but regarding what you said about the speaker identifying with the bear: I'm not sure it's exactly right to say that the speaker feels that the bear must share his sadness, or whatever else he is feeling. That would be classic pathetic fallacy, which is certainly generative for poetry, but here the speaker appears actually to be rejecting that idea.”

FeelsSaidIdeasFeelingsWould BeSunSawsSadnessShareBearsClassicNot SureSpeakersPatheticFallacyZoosIdentifyingRejectingOaklandOrnery
Author:Matthew Zapruder
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“I don't think that those things [so called common practice] ever truly existed in the way that we like to believe that they do, the way we learn about them in music history class. Those things are defined at least decades after they happen. And even then, it's a fallacy because when you're in the moment, when you're in a thriving scene of musicians, inevitably everyone is going to be doing something completely different from everyone else”

ThinkingWayBelieveDifferentMomentsHappensCommonClassPracticeSceneMusicianDecadesDefinedFallacyHistory Class
Author:Missy Mazzoli
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“Admittedly, having a bit of disposable cash in the bank can give you a sense of Buddhistic calm, and despite the fallacy involved, that's probably preferable to the bonafide adventure of robbing a bank. A better alternative, however, is to learn to be at peace even when common sense (a highly overrated virtue) would lead you to believe that someone in your situation ought to feel threatened and insecure.”

GivingFeelsBelieveBitsCommonSituationVirtueAdventureOughtInvolvedCalmCommon SenseDespiteAlternativesCashThreatenedInsecureFallacyOverratedDisposableRobbing
Author:Tom Robbins
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“Darwin and his successors have railed against the fallacy of confusing the current utility of a trait with the reason the trait evolved. For example, Darwin argued that skull sutures in mammals did not evolve because they facilitate live birth; the sutures were in place well before live birth evolved. Checking the chronological order in which different traits evolved in a lineage is one way to test an adaptive hypothesis; the fact of common ancestry is what makes that checking possible.”

WayWellsDifferentReasonFactsOrderCommonExampleBirthTestsCurrentsOne WayEvolveTraitsHypothesisConfusingUtilitySkullsAncestryFallacyFacilitateSuccessorsMammalsLineageAdaptive
Author:Elliott Sober
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“I remember reading about a court case where a man tried to stab a judge with a pencil. There are Google pages full of similar instances around the world. It's obvious that the pencil lends itself to precisely that kind of use. It's not as lacking in dominance as you might think. I have an article on the fallacy of the designer intent because a lot of designers think they can design uses into technology. You can't do that. I use the pen, I make the mark, but the pen is also using me. The pen could be said to be allowing these kinds of marks. I can't do just anything with the pen.”

ThinkingMenWorldKindRememberReadingTechnologyDesignJudgingObviousDesignerPensGoogleFallacyUsing Me
Author:Don Ihde
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