#evidence

In spite of overwhelming evidence, it is most difficult for a citizen of western Europe to bring thoroughly home to himself the truth that the civilisation which surrounds him is a rare exception in the history of the world. ↗

— Henry James Sumner Maine

#citizen #civilisation #difficult #europe #evidence

Whoever claims that economic competition represents 'survival of the fittest' in the sense of the law of the jungle, provides the clearest possible evidence of his lack of knowledge of economics. ↗

— George Reisman

#clearest #competition #economic #economics #evidence

History offers no evidence for the proposition that the assignment of women to military combat jobs is the way to win wars, improve combat readiness, or promote national security. ↗

— Phyllis Schlafly

#combat #evidence #history #improve #jobs

Science replaces private prejudice with public, verifiable evidence. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#education #enlighten #evidence #ignorance #knowledge

To man has been given the grief, often, of seeing his gods overthrown and his altars crumbling; but to the wolf and the wild dog that have come in to crouch at man's feet, this grief has never come. Unlike man, whose gods are of the unseen and overguessed, vapors and mists of fancy eluding the garmenture of reality, wandering wraiths of desired goodness and power, intangible outcroppings of self into the realm of spirit - unlike man, the wolf and the wild dog that have come into their fire find the gods in the living flesh, solid to the touch, occupying earth-space and requiring time for the accomplishment of their ends and their existence. No effort of faith is necessary to believe in such a god; no effort of will can possibly induce disbelief in such a god. There is no getting away from it. There it stands, on its two hindlegs, club in hand, immensely potential, passionate and wrathful and loving, god and mystery and power all wrapped up and around by flesh that bleeds when it is torn and that is good to eat like any flesh. ↗

— Jack London

#god #man #nature #power #religion

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

— Christopher Hitchens

#skepticism #religion

The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin. ↗

— Henry Adams

#darwin #evidence #evolution #grant #president

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. ↗

— John Adams

#cannot #dictates #evidence #facts #inclinations

We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves. ↗

— Thomas Aquinas

#believing #evidence #full #knowledge #led

But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#beginning #beings #chaotic #contrary #depressing