#skeptic

[Sire,] je n'ai pas eu besoin de cette hypothèse." En répondant Napoléon qui lui demanda pourquoi sa théorie de l'univers ne indique pas Dieux. ↗

— Pierre-Simon Laplace

#science #skepticism #religion

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

— Mary Catherine Bateson

#combine #commitment #democracy #essential #skepticism

The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found. ↗

— Miguel de Unamuno

#does #doubts #found #him #investigates

Imagine if it happened to you: All of a sudden you find this thing on your wrist and people are telling you it has powers. I would be a little skeptical myself. ↗

— Yancy Butler

#happened #i #imagine #little #myself

I'd say there was a fair amount of skepticism at the time about whether the Internet held any promise. And of course I felt that it did. ↗

— Jim Clark

#amount #any #course #did #fair

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. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it! 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

#skepticism #equality

I agree with Chomsky in almost nothing. When it comes to innate structures and so on, I'm very skeptical. ↗

— Clifford Geertz

#almost #comes #i #innate #nothing

I think you can be cynical about religion on occasion, and certainly skeptical about the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people. ↗

— Peter Jennings

#certainly #cynical #degree #i #i think

Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever. ↗

— Sam Harris

#religion #skepticism #faith

We know enough at this moment to say that the God of Abraham is not only unworthy of the immensity of creation; he is unworthy even of man. ↗

— Sam Harris

#reason #religion #science #skeptic #faith