“The first job of the historian and of the journalist is to find facts. Not the only job, perhaps not the most important, but the first. Facts are the cobblestones from which we build roads of analysis, mosaic tiles that we fit together to compose pictures of past and present. There will be disagreement about where the road leads and what reality or truth is revealed by the mosaic picture. The facts themselves must be checked against all the available evidence. But some are round and hard--and the most powerful leaders in the world can trip over them. So can writers, dissidents and saints.” WorldFirstsImportantHardFactsRealityTogetherJobsPastPowerfulLeaderFitTruth IsEvidenceRoundsSaintAvailableJournalistAnalysisMost PowerfulHistorianDisagreementPast And PresentDissidentsMosaicsPowerful LeadersTilesCobblestone Author:Timothy Garton Ash
“And then God gave me insight: this was winter. It would end, in time, but not by my own doing. My responsibility was simply to know the season, and match my actions and inactions to it. It was to learn the slow hard discipline of waiting. It was my season to believe in spite of-to believe in the absence of evidence or emotion, when there's nothing, no bud, no color, no light, no birdsong, to validate belief. It was my time to walk without sight.” KnowsBelieveEndsHardLightActionBeliefWaitingMy OwnWalksEmotionResponsibilityColorDisciplineEvidenceSeasonsSightWinterInsightAbsenceMy TimeSpiteInactionBudBirdsong Author:Mark Buchanan
“Graphology is another in a long list of quack substitutes for hard work. It is appealing to those who are impatient with such troublesome matters as research, evidence analysis, reasoning, logic, and hypothesis testing.” LongMatterHardHard WorkResearchEvidenceLogicListsAnalysisReasoningWorking ItSubstitutesHypothesisTestingImpatientTroublesomeQuacks Author:Robert Todd Carroll
“It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.” HardSoundSidesEvidenceArguingCynicismSmarterOptimistCynic Author:Molly Ivins
“Religion is based upon blind faith supported by no evidence. Science is based upon confidence that results from evidence - and that confidence can be modified and/or reversed by further observations and experimentation. Science approaches truth, closer and closer, by hard dedicated work. Religion already has it all decided, and it's in the book. It's dogma, unchangeable, and unaffected by reality and whatever facts we come upon in the real world.” WorldBookRealHardFactsRealityResultsAtheismApproachEvidenceDecidedBlindPositive AtheismObservationReal WorldDedicatedDogmaExperimentationBlind FaithUnchangeable Author:James Randi
“Long may it remain in this mixed world a question not easy of decision, which is the more beautiful evidence of the Almighty's goodness, the soft white hand formed for the ministrations of sympathy and tenderness, or the rough hard hand which the heart softens, teaches, and guides in a moment.” WorldHeartMayLongHardMomentsHandsBeautifulEasyWhiteDecisionTeachGoodnessEvidenceGuidesRoughTendernessProvidenceAlmighty Author:Charles Dickens