Skepticism Quotes

One special advantage of the skeptical attitude of mind is that a man is never vexed to find that after all he has been in the wrong.

William Osler

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.

Carl Sagan

It would be better for us to have some doubts in an honest pursuit of truth, than it would be for us to be certain about something that was not true.

Daniel Wallace

Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.

Albert Einstein

Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end to divine things.

Hippocrates

scepticism, as we know, can never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill

George Eliot

Men are never convinced of your reasons, of your sincerity, of the seriousness of your sufferings, except by your death. So long as you are alive, your case is doubtful; you have a right only to their skepticism.

Albert Camus

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused be wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.

C.S. Lewis

Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

Albert Einstein

We have an incapacity of proof, insurmountable by all dogmatism. We have an idea of truth, invincible to all skepticism.

Blaise Pascal

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

Ambrose Bierce

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.

Thomas Jefferson

Though one believes in nothing, there are moments in life when one accepts the religion of the temple nearest at hand.

Victor Hugo

Skepticism is slow suicide

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Believing everyone is dangerous, but believing nobody is more dangerous.

Abraham Lincoln

If you want to stay in for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognize and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows he is right. For the dissenter, the skeptical mentality is at least as important as any armor of principle.

Christopher Hitchens

I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain, physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible and learn what appears to be wise and right.

Abraham Lincoln

When you put your hand to the plow, you can't put it down until you get to the end of the row.

Alice Paul

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.

Thomas Jefferson

I mean, you could claim that real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's it doesn't exist!

J.K. Rowling