Quotessence
Home / Topics / Skepticism Quotes

Skepticism Quotes

Browse 669 quotes about Skepticism.

Related topics

PeopleSkepticSkepticalMenThinkingScienceIfsBelieveDoubtBeliefAtheismMindHealthyMayScepticIdeasNeedsKnowsReasonHumansKindFactsHas BeensReligionShouldWellsFirstsPhilosophyTheoryWayDoeLongMatterVirtueWorldCertainCredulityGovernmentPositive AtheismAtheistCynicismEnoughMeanSaidViewsHeartPersonsRealityScientific TruthSuperstitionsTwoAgeCommonEvidenceMadeNaturalOpinionPoliticalProblemScientistSelfSoundTryingAuthorityBookCertaintyClaimsConvictionDiscoveryEndsGullibilityLastsLooksMightSpiritStatesStillsWantYearsArguingCastsDegreesDemandDisbeliefExistenceFaithIgnoranceImportantIntellectLyingNew IdeasPositionProcessQuestioningQuestioning BeliefsShowsStrongWould Be

Skepticism Quotes

“Skepticism, as I said, is not intellectual only; it is moral also; a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul. A man lives by believing something; not by debating and arguing about many things. A sad case for him when all that he can manage to believe is something he can button in his pocket, and with one or the other organ eat and digest! Lower than that he will not get.”

MenBelieveSaidSoulWholeMoralCasesDiseaseIntellectualArguingManagePocketsLive ByOrgansSkepticismButtonsAtrophy
Book:On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History: Six Lectures, Reported, with Emendations and Additions
Create image

“People confuse the word cynicism with the word skepticism. One is “you’re not gonna pay attention to anything, think everything’s screwed up, nothing’s ever gonna work out right”, that’s cynicism. But skepticism is, “you’re presented with evidence and you do your best to draw conclusions based on that”. So, as the saying goes, Bill Nye, do you believe in ghosts? No. However, I would love to see one. Bring it on. I’m open minded to the idea, but the more I look into it in a skeptical frame of thinking, the less likely it seems.”

PeopleThinkingBelieveLooksIdeasSeemsPayAttentionDrawsEvidenceBillsWork OutGhostConclusionPay AttentionCynicismSkepticismSkepticalOpen MindOpen MindedScrewed UpNye
Author:Bill Nye
Create image

“People are not "things" to be manipulated, labeled, boxed, bought, and sold. Above all else, they are not "human resources." They are entire human beings, containing the whole of the evolving universe, limitless until we start limiting them. We must examine the concept of leading and following with new eyes. We must examine the concept of superior and subordinate with increasing skepticism. We must examine the concept of management and labor with new beliefs. And we must examine the nature of organizations that demand such distinctions with an entirely different consciousness.”

PeopleHumansDifferentWholeEyeUniverseBeliefHuman BeingsConsciousnessDemandConceptsResourcesLaborOrganizationManagementFollowingSuperiorsEvolveDistinctionSkepticismLimitlessHuman ResourcesSubordinatesContainingNew Eyes
Book:Birth of the Chaordic Age
Create image

“I realize that idealism is out of sync with the cynicism of our age. Skepticism has come to be synonymous with sophistication, and glibness is mistaken for intelligence. In such an atmosphere, why bother aiming high? Far too many people don't. I just want to reassure people to have the courage to persevere, to keep following their hearts even when others scoff. Don't be beaten down by naysayers. Don't let the odds scare you from even trying.”

PeopleWantTryingHeartAgeRealizingCourageFollowingAtmosphereBotherScareCynicismOddsSkepticismIdealismBeatenMistakenPersevereSophisticationSyncWhy BotherNaysayers
Author:Howard Schultz
Create image

“Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short and long, life and death? Can you let go of all these dualities and embrace the Tao without skepticism or panic? If so, you can reach the heart of the Integral Oneness.”

IfsHeartLongIdeasSelfLetting GoEgoFemaleEmbraceMalesNotionOnenessLife And DeathTaoismAbandonPanicSkepticismTaoLong LifeDuality
Book:Hua Hu Ching: Teachings of Lao Tzu
Create image

“The decline of witch-belief was . . . entirely the product of religious skepticism. . . . The Catholic Church did not reform itself on this matter; it was forced by outside pressure to reform. To be sure, the Protestant churches were no better in this regard; it is simply that they had less time - only two or three centuries - to engage in the torching of witches. After all, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, stated quite correctly that disbelief in witches meant a disbelief in the Bible.”

TwoMatterReligionThreeBeliefChurchReligiousCenturyProductsPressureRegardCatholicReformWitchDeclineSkepticismFoundersCatholic ChurchDisbeliefProtestants
Author:S. T. Joshi
Create image

“Skepticism's bad rap arises from the impression that, however necessary the activity, it can only be regarded as a negative removal of false claims. Not so... Proper debunking is done in the interest of an alternate model of explanation, not as a nihilistic exercise. The alternate model is rationality itself, tied to moral decency--the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.”

ThinkingDoneInterestPowerfulKnownMoralPlanetsExerciseActivityModelsNegativeClaimsInstrumentsRapImpressionAriseExplanationMost PowerfulTiedSkepticismRationalityDecencyJointsOur PlanetRemoval
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
Create image

“In view of the tide of religiosity engulfing a once secular republic it is refreshing to be reminded by Freethinkers that free thought and skepticism are robustly in the American tradition. After all the Founding Fathers began by omitting God from the American Constitution.”

FatherViewsTraditionConstitutionRepublicTidesSkepticismSecularFoundingRefreshingFreethinkerFree ThoughtAmerican TraditionAmerican ConstitutionOmittingEngulfing
Author:Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Create image

“What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.”

ThinkingShouldStillsIdeasFactsShowsRunningCertainBeliefViewsOpinionDoubtRiskWillingConflictEvidenceErrorsSkepticismRationalityHardened
Author:Diane Ravitch
Create image

“One of the best things I’ve read about that inexplicably, but endlessly, fascinating group of people, the so-called Serious Collectors of 78s. Petrusich burrows into not just their personalities but the hunger that unites and drives their obsessions. She writes elegantly, and makes you think, and most important manages to hang onto her skepticism in the midst of her own collecting quest.”

PeopleThinkingWritingImportantGroupsSeriousPersonalityHungerObsessionManageBest ThingsFascinatingMidstQuestsSkepticismCollectingMake You ThinkCollectors
Author:John Jeremiah Sullivan
Create image

“I have serious problems with fundamentalist Christians and their creationist theories. Although I believe that scripture is divinely inspired and infallible, I have a hard time going along with the belief that the whole creation process occurred in six twenty-four hour days. My skepticism is due, in part, to the fact that the Bible says that the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:16-19). I have a hard time figuring how twenty-four hour days could have been measured before that.”

BelieveHas BeensHardWholeFactsProblemChristianBeliefI BelieveProcessHoursSunFourCreationSeriousTheorySixTwentiesInspiredDuesScriptureHard TimesFourthSkepticismCould Have BeenGenesisFundamentalistInfallibleCreationist
Author:Tony Campolo
Create image

“All that the posture of skepticism accomplishes is to freeze the ego in an ignorantist poverty that never stretches or diversifies its resources of imagination or understanding. Any uncultured cretin can close his eyes and try to reduce the issues down to linear simplisms and say, "I am doubting, I am proving my magisterial or sovereign control over my own mind." Doubt is a useful and significant test of one's critical powers, but by itself it bears little if any significant cultural charge of enlightenment or satori; indeed it is the very opposite kind of thing.”

IfsTryingMindKindLittlesEyeUnderstandingImaginationMy OwnPovertyIssuesDoubtBearsProveEgoEnlightenmentResourcesTestsOppositesAccomplishCriticalSignificantHis EyesSkepticismSovereignFreezePostureLinearSatori
Author:Kenny Smith
Create image

“One does not have to be a 'climate change denier' to see that a degree of skepticism about the present consensus might be in order....Most likely, now - as in the past - many analysts have become carried away by the results of their models, which purport to look into a far distant future, and have convinced themselves that they must embark on a crusade to enlighten others.”

LooksDoeMightPastOrderResultsDegreesModelsClimateClimate ChangeConvincedGlobal WarmingSkepticismConsensusEnlighteningAnalystsCrusadesCarried AwayClimate Change Deniers
Author:Colin Robinson
Create image