“There are two ways of forming an opinion. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all-important, and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything, and facts are junked when they do not fit theory.” WayMindTwoImportantFactsOpinionTheoryFitAuthorityMethodProofDescriptionAcademicConvenienceTwo WaysScientific MethodScholastics Author:Robert A. Heinlein
“Dear rulers ... I maintain that the civil authorities are under obligation to compel the people to send their children to school. ... If the government can compel such citizens as are fit for military service to bear spear and rifle, to mount ramparts, and perform other martial duties in time of war, how much more has it a right to compel the people to send their children to school, because in this case we are warring with the devil, whose object it is secretly to exhaust our cities and principalities of their strong men.” PeopleIfsMenChildrenWarGovernmentSchoolStrongCitiesCasesMilitaryObjectsDutyBearsCitizensFitAuthorityDevilDearObligationRulersRiflesSpearsStrong ManMilitary Service Author:Martin Luther
“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.” StatesWholeGovernmentCareFormSpiritUnitedPowerUnited StatesSupportNovelFieldsObjectsTheoryFitAuthorityJudgmentLettersConstitutionAssumingUnionsCharityContraryWelfareProvidingPhilanthropyLegislationFederal GovernmentCalamitySubversivePropriety Author:Franklin Pierce
“A god that created the world and then walked off the site leaving it to its own devices is not a fit object of worship, nor a source of moral authority.” WorldMoralObjectsSourceFitAuthorityWorshipLeavingDevicesSiteMoral Authority Book:Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy Source: Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy
“History is replete with examples of what happens when any group of authorities do not have to answer to empirical evidence but are free to define truth as they see fit. None of the examples has a happy ending. Why should it be otherwise with therapy?” ShouldHappensAnswersGroupsExampleFitAuthorityEvidenceTherapyHappy EndingsEmpirical Evidence Author:Robert Todd Carroll
“I would like to see ... an entirely different procedure which is that we vote on the budget and decide how much we are going to spend, first, the way any family does, and then fit our priorities into what we think we have to spend. Instead, what we do, is to do it incrementally, starting at the bottom, adding and adding and adding. ... Until we get the support of all the authorities in this House to decide, first, what we think this country can afford and then decide where the amount is going to be allocated, we will never have common sense in this House.” ThinkingWayFirstsDoeDifferentCountryHouseCommonSupportAmountFitAuthorityVoteBottomStartingPrioritiesCommon SenseBudgetsProcedures Author:Millicent Fenwick
“I didn't really fit with other kids. I had problems in school all my life and problems with authority. But my parents never did drugs or anything. They just believed in freedom in the best sense of the word.” ProblemKidsSchoolParentFitDrugAuthorityJust BelieveProblems In School Author:Julie Delpy