#skeptic

You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men’s eyes, because they know – or think they know – some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend to be young – like the fine ladies at the opera. ↗

— Bram Stoker

#science-and-religion #skepticism #men

[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 essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#independent-thought #opinions #skepticism #thinking #independence

I'm a Skeptic. And I'm a Journalist. I look up things in the library—a lot! I believe in the motto of Missouri, the 'Show-me, don't just blow me' state. I need evidence. I need demonstrations. I need show-and-tell. Even though I pray to God every once in a while, especially when I'm in trouble—which for most guys my age is every 28 days—I still think deeply about the issues and don't automatically jump to a religious or mystical answer to questions. I am, by nature, doubtful about the existence of God, and even whether He is a He or a Her. I don't believe in New Age stuff. For me, 'Past Life Regression' means not calling a girl after she gives me her phone number. Sure I own a lucky rabbit's foot, a lucky penny, a lucky 4-leaf clover and a lucky horeshoe [sic], and a pair of lucky underwear and several pairs of lucky socks that I only wash every seven days. But under it all I am a died–in-the-wool skeptic. ↗

— Earl Lee

#humor #skeptics #age

Suicide, moreover, was at the time in vogue in Paris: what more suitable key to the mystery of life for a skeptical society? ↗

— Honore de Balzac

#life #more #moreover #mystery #paris

In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder. ↗

— Robert G. Ingersoll

#religion #skepticism #worship #age

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

Journalists are supposed to be skeptical, that's what keeps them digging rather than simply accepting the official line, whether it comes from government or corporate bureaucrats. ↗

— Linda Chavez

#bureaucrats #comes #corporate #digging #government

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

A majority of American citizens are now becoming skeptical of the claim that our carbon footprints, resulting from our use of fossil fuels, are going to lead to climatic calamities. But governments are not yet listening to the citizens. ↗

— John Coleman

#american citizens #becoming #calamities #carbon #citizens