Quotessence
Home / Topics / Skepticism Quotes

Skepticism Quotes

Browse 669 quotes about Skepticism.

Related topics

PeopleSkepticSkepticalMenThinkingScienceIfsBelieveDoubtBeliefAtheismMindHealthyMayScepticIdeasNeedsKnowsReasonHumansKindFactsHas BeensReligionShouldWellsFirstsPhilosophyTheoryWayDoeLongMatterVirtueWorldCertainCredulityGovernmentPositive AtheismAtheistCynicismEnoughMeanSaidViewsHeartPersonsRealityScientific TruthSuperstitionsTwoAgeCommonEvidenceMadeNaturalOpinionPoliticalProblemScientistSelfSoundTryingAuthorityBookCertaintyClaimsConvictionDiscoveryEndsGullibilityLastsLooksMightSpiritStatesStillsWantYearsArguingCastsDegreesDemandDisbeliefExistenceFaithIgnoranceImportantIntellectLyingNew IdeasPositionProcessQuestioningQuestioning BeliefsShowsStrongWould Be

Skepticism Quotes

“I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

MenMindGovernmentAmericaFormReligionChangeReligiousLibertyChristianityEternalLibertarianTyrannyAmerican HistorySkepticismHostilityAltarsChurch And StateFreedom And LibertySeparation Of Church And StateForms Of GovernmentFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersProperty RightsLimited GovernmentFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersClergyForefathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateIndividual LibertyFounding Fathers ReligiousAmerican GovernmentReligion GodFree GovernmentLimiting GovernmentFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistDeismLimited FreedomChristianity From Founding FathersReligion ChristianAgainst ReligionFaith ReligionPrice Of FreedomRevolution Founding FathersLimiting FreedomGovernment And SocietyChristian GodDeistTyranny Founding FathersThinking GodLiberty Tree
Author:Thomas Jefferson
Create image

“I expressed skepticism, in the first chapter, about the utility of time machines in historical research. I especially advised against graduate students relying on them, because of the limited perspective you tend to get from being plunked down in some particular part of the past, and the danger of not getting back in time for your orals.”

FirstsPastDangerStudentsParticularPerspectiveResearchMachinesHistoricalGraduatesChaptersSkepticismUtilityBack In TimeTime MachineGraduate StudentsHistorical ResearchLimited Perspective
Book:The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
Create image

“I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions... Don't take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can't. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself.”

PeopleThinkingTryingWisdomAsksAttitudeTakenDoubtWillingStandardsGrantedAssumptionJustifyQuestioningConventionalSkepticismSkepticalTaken For GrantedConventional WisdomDoubtersTaking Things For GrantedTake Nothing For Granted
Book:Power and Terror: Conflict, Hegemony, and the Rule of Force
Create image

“How much simpler it would be all around if you could put your mind in a cast, like a broken ankle, and elicit murmurings of sympathy from other people instead of skepticism (“You can’t really be feeling as bad as all that”) and in some cases outright hostility (“Maybe if you stopped thinking about yourself so much ”).”

PeopleIfsThinkingMindFeelingsWould BeCasesBrokenCastsAbout YourselfSkepticismHostilityAnklesThinking About YouMurmuringThinking About Yourself
Author:Daphne Merkin
Create image

“Success also requires the courage to risk disapproval. Most independent thought, new ideas, or endeavors beyond the common measure are greeted with disapproval, and ranging from skepticism and ridicule to violent outrage. To persevere in anything exceptional requires inner strength and the unshakable conviction that you are right.”

IdeasCommonRiskIndependentConvictionViolentInner StrengthEndeavorSkepticismNew IdeasRidiculeExceptionalPersevereOutrageDisapprovalUnshakableIndependent Thought
Author:Chin-Ning Chu
Create image

“In practice, the goal of skepticism is not the discovery of truth, but the exposure of other people's errors. It plays a useful role in science, religion, scholarship, and common sense. But we need to remember that it is a weapon serving belief or self-interest; we need to be skeptical of skeptics. The more militant the skeptic, the stronger the belief.”

PeopleNeedsSelfPlayTruthRememberBeliefGoalInterestCommonRolesPracticeWeaponsDiscoveryStrongerErrorsCommon SenseServingSkepticismExposureSelf InterestSkepticalScholarshipSkepticMilitantScience Religion
Author:Rupert Sheldrake
Create image

“I came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. My team evaluated them. We scrubbed them thoroughly. We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards. But my assessment, and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. In the abstract, you can complain about 'Big Brother' and how this is a potential program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then, I think we've struck the right balance.”

ThinkingLooksHelpingBigsRunningTeamBrotherBalanceHealthyProgramDetailsComplainingTerroristAbstractPrivacySkepticismAssessmentTerrorist AttacksOversight
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places, and cultures. It has been the means for our survival. It is our birthright. When, through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science, we are disenfranchisin g them, taking from them the tools needed to manage their future.”

MeanChildrenHas BeensCultureNeededSurvivalToolsManageAll TimeIndifferenceSkepticismDiscouragingIncompetenceEmbeddedBirthrightInattention
Author:Carl Sagan
Create image

“The story of Ramakrishna is a story of religion in practice. His life enables us to see God face to face.... In this age of skepticism Ramakrishna presents an example of a bright and living faith which gives solace to thousands of men and women who would otherwise have remained without spiritual light.”

MenGivingStoriesLightAgeFacesSpiritualPracticeExampleMen And WomenSkepticismFace To FaceSolaceSpiritual Light
Book:Homage to the Departed
Create image

“Criticism alone can sever the root of materialism, fatalism, atheism, free-thinking, fanaticism, and superstition, which can be injurious universally; as well as of idealism and skepticism, which are dangerous chiefly to the Schools, and hardly allow of being handed on to the public.”

ThinkingWellsSchoolAtheismDangerousDangerRootsCriticismMaterialismSuperstitionsSkepticismIdealismFanaticismFree ThinkingFatalism
Book:Immanuel Kant's Critique Of Pure Reason
Create image

“What are the moral convictions most fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people? They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of belief; that merit attaches to readiness to believe; that the doubting disposition is a bad one, and skepticism is a sin.”

PeopleBelieveGovernmentBeliefSinMoralDoubtAuthorityBasesConvictionMeritSkepticismDispositionReadiness
Book:Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews
Create image

“The concept of military necessity is seductively broad, and has a dangerous plasticity. Because they invariably have the visage of overriding importance, there is always a temptation to invoke security "necessities" to justify an encroachment upon civil liberties. For that reason, the military-security argument must be approached with a healthy skepticism.”

ReasonLibertySecurityMilitaryDangerousHealthyConceptsArgumentImportanceCivil RightsTemptationJustifyBroadsSkepticismCivil LibertiesInvokeEncroachmentPlasticity
Author:William J. Brennan
Create image

“There is a horrifying loneliness at work in this time. No, listen to me. We lived six and seven to a room in those days, when I was still among the living. The city streets were seas of humanity; and now in these high buildings dim-witted souls hover in luxurious privacy, gazing through the television window at a faraway world of kissing and touching. It is bound to produce some great fund of common knowledge, some new level of human awareness, a curious skepticism, to be so alone.”

WorldHumansStillsSoulHumanityLevelsRoomsCommonCitiesSeaStreetsAwarenessLonelinessProduceTelevisionBuildingKissingSixWindowSevenBoundsCuriousPrivacyFundTouchingSkepticismListen To MeGazingLuxuriousCity StreetsCommon Knowledge
Book:The Queen of the Damned
Create image

“People rise and fall to meet your level of expectations for them. If you express skepticism and doubt in others, they will return your lack of confidence with mediocrity. But if you believe in them and expect them to do well, they will go the extra mile trying to do their best.”

PeopleIfsTryingBelieveWellsFallLevelsDoubtReturnExpectationsMilesExtrasMediocritySkepticismIf You BelieveRise And FallExtra MileLack Of Confidence
Book:How to Influence People: Make a Difference in Your World
Create image