Skepticism Quotes

Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.

The strongest continuous thread in America's political tradition is skepticism about government.

A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.

Skepticism does not preserve us from foolhardy deeds.

Consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough.

Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect.

Skepticism, is that anything more than we used to mean when we said, Well, what have we here?

The poison of skepticism becomes, like alcoholism, tuberculosis, and some other diseases, much more virulent in a hitherto virgin soil.

I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.

I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs.

You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it.

It Begins with skepticism. The history of human folly, and our own susceptibility to illusions and fallacies, tell us that men and women are fallible.

Skepticism can keep us from blessing, can keep us trapped in two minds.

Superstition would seem to be simply cowardice in regard to the supernatural.

I have a lot of skepticism about marriage and monogamy.

Our age is bent on trying to make the barren tree of skepticism fruitful by tying the fruits of truth on its branches.

We could hardly believe that after so many ordeals, after all the trials of modern skepticism, there was still so much left in our souls to destroy.

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

Thus Pyrrhonism is not a sect of people who are persuaded of what they say, but it is a sect of liars.

The modern world tends to be skeptical about everything that makes demands on man's higher faculties. But it is not at all skeptical about skepticism, which demands hardly anything.

Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true.

There is no better soporific and sedative than skepticism.

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order.

My position now, especially in this town, adds an element of skepticism with people you meet - especially girls. I mean, it becomes a lot more difficult.

All scientific progress requires a climate of strong skepticism.

Skepticism is my nature, freethought is my methodology, agnosticism is my conclusion after 25 years of being in the ministry, and atheism is my opinion.

In the United States, the Supreme Court's decision of 1954, outlawing segregation in school systems, was greeted with mixed feelings of hope and skepticism by African-Americans.

Where journalists have gotten themselves in trouble over the last few decades is that their skepticism often extends only to American officials, the U.S. military and Republican politicians.

The capacity to combine commitment with skepticism is essential to democracy.

I just witnessed an event so mysterious that it shook my skepticism.

Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to no matter what.

Skepticism? Yes, but a saint is a skeptic once in twenty-four hours.

Skepticism means, not intellectual doubt alone, but moral doubt.

Skepticism . . . is not intellectual only it is moral also, a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul.

I discourage passive skepticism, which is the armchair variety where people sit back and criticize without ever subjecting their theories or themselves to real field testing.

I'm the most cynical person, and I know what that sounds like when you say, I don't drink and drive, and I don't. But I know people look at that with skepticism, and I understand.

It is at the cross-roads that skepticism is born, not in a hermitage.

People wrap themselves in their beliefs. And they do it in such a way that you can't set them free. Not even the truth will set them free.

My humor is my creativity, and my skepticism is a gift.

Liberalism regards all absolutes with profound skepticism, including both moral imperatives and final solutions... Insistence upon any particular solution is the mark of an ideologue.

Skepticism is forever whispering in your ears. You're very new at this. You may be mistaken. You've been wrong before.

It is assumed that the skeptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of skepticism.

Sceptics are generally ready to believe anything, provided it is sufficiently improbable.

The sceptic only stumbles at matter of fact.

the crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock.

I have a deep-seated skepticism about the morality of violence. Violence is almost always morally corrosive.

There is no skepticism without science and the scientific method. It's about how we know what we know.

Skepticism is not a denial of belief, but rather a denial of rational grounds for belief.

Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the Church does neither.