“The foundation of all morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying; to give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of knowledge.” GivingBelieveDoneLyingPossibilityMoralityGiving UpEvidenceFoundationPretendingPropositions Book:Collected essays Source: Collected essays
“Nothing shall warp me from the belief that every man is a lover of truth. There is no pure lie, no pure malignity in nature. The entertainment of the proposition of depravity is the last profligacy and profanation. There is no skepticism, no atheism but that. Could it be received into common belief, suicide would unpeople the planet.” MenLastsLyingBeliefCommonAtheismPlanetsLoversPureSuicideEntertainmentEvery ManSkepticismPropositionsDepravityWarp Book:The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson Source: The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You cannot rationalize what is not rational to begin with - as if lying were called truthization. There is no way to obtain more truth for a proposition by bribery, flattery, or the most passionate argument - you can make more people believe the proposition, but you cannot make it more true.” PeopleIfsWayBelieveLyingArgumentPassionateRationalPropositionsFlatteryRationalizeBribery Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky