#evidence

The difference between faith and insanity is that faith is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence, whereas insanity is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence. ↗

— William Harwood

#evidence #faith #insanity #mythology #faith

I couldn't care less about evidence and proof and assurances. I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on water. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#faith #god #faith

A sign of power in a man is not only when people follow what he suggests, but also when people make a conscious effort to do the exact opposite of what he suggests. ↗

— Criss Jami

#conscious #control #controlled #effort #envy

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#skepticism #religion

It is often said, mainly by the 'no-contests', that although there is no positive evidence for the existence of God, nor is there evidence against his existence. So it is best to keep an open mind and be agnostic. At first sight that seems an unassailable position, at least in the weak sense of Pascal's wager. But on second thoughts it seems a cop-out, because the same could be said of Father Christmas and tooth fairies. There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies? ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#evidence #respect

My main reason for scepticism about the Huxley/Sagan theory is that the human brain is demonstrably eager to see faces in random patterns, as we know from scientific evidence, on top of the numerous legends about faces of Jesus, or the Virgin Mary, or Mother Teresa, being seen on slices of toast, or pizzas, or patches of damp on a wall. This eagerness is enhanced if the pattern departs from randomness in the specific direction of being symmetrical. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#evidence #evolution #religion #science #sir-julian-huxley

Look ... first and foremost, I'm a scientist. That means it's my responsibility to make observations and gather evidence before forming a hypothesis, not vice versa. ↗

— Allen Steele

#hypotheses #hypothesis #observations #science #scientific-inquiry

There was never sufficient evidence presented at my trial to support a finding of intent to kill. ↗

— Jack Henry Abbott

#finding #intent #kill #never #presented

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence. ↗

— Matthew Arnold

#evidence #exaggerate #human #human mind #impossible

There has also been much love, joy, evidence of admiration, there has never been one without the other. ↗

— Isabelle Adjani

#also #been #evidence #joy #love