Skeptical Quote Collection

I'm not sure what's better, a sortable table, or something more classic, like the entries below

Skeptical Quote of the Week

Quote	Given name	Surname	SGU ep.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'	Isaac	Asimov	328
The advance of scientific knowledge does not seem to make either our universe or our inner life in it any less mysterious	J. B. S	Haldane	329
Questioner: As a scientist, would you deny the possibility of water having been changed into wine in the Bible? CS: Deny the possibility? Certainly not. I would not deny any such possibility. But I would, of course, not spend a moment on it unless there was some evidence for it.	Carl	Sagan	330
Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by the air. Facts are the air of science. Without them a man of science can never rise.	Ivan	Pavlov	331
At every croasroads on the road that leads to the future, tradition has placed against us ten thousand men to guard the past.	Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard	Maeterlinck	332
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men (and women) of flesh and blood. (written by William Safire)	Richard	Nixon	333
The scientific method consists of the use of procedures designed to show not that our predictions and hypotheses are right, but that they might be wrong. Scientific reasoning is useful to anyone in any job because it makes us face the possibility, even the dire reality, that we were mistaken. It forces us to confront our self-justifications and put them on public display for others to puncture. At its core, therefore, science is a form of arrogance control.	Carol	Tavris	334
Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness and dies by chance."	Jean Paul	Sartre	335
The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.	Christopher	Hitchens	336
To a clear eye the smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen.	Thomas Henry	Huxley	337
Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism.	David	Suzuki	338
Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge.	Leonardo	daVinci	339
As I look back on nearly half a century of research, I am struck by the fact that my life in science has never proceeded along a straight line toward a goal, but in a series of steps in different and unexpected directions. It reminds me of the walks I loved to take in Paris- not journeys toward a particular goal, but random strolls that were directed, at each corner, by the curious or beautiful that appeared down one street or the other. I think it’s a good way to explore and a great way to live.	K. E	van Holde	340
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge	Isaac	Asimov	341
…if we offer too much silent assent about mysticism and superstition – even when it seems to be doing a little good – we abet a general climate in which skepticism is considered impolite, science tiresome, and rigorous thinking somehow stuffy and inappropriate. Figuring out a prudent balance takes wisdom.	Carl	Sagan	342
Feminism is best served by embracing reality, by thinking critically, and advancing rational arguments. This sloppy Newage shit-slurry of ingenuous gullibility is pure poison to the cause.	P. Z	Myers	343
It is a truly wonderful fact -- the wonder of which we are apt to overlook from familiarity -- that all animals and all plants throughout all time and space should be related to each other in group subordinate to group.	Charles	Darwin	344
How weak our mind is; how quickly it is terrified and unbalanced as soon as we are confronted with a small, incomprehensible fact. Instead of dismissing the problem with: ‘We do not understand because we cannot find the cause,’ we immediately imagine terrible mysteries and supernatural powers.	Henri René Albert Guy	de Maupassant	346
You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown– only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.	James T	Kirk	347
Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgements can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.	Richard	Feynman	348
Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers.	Bernhard	Haisch	349
Fear believes, courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and prays. Courage stands erect and thanks. Fear is barbarism. Courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, in devils and in ghosts. Fear is religion. Courage is science	Robert	Ingersoll	350
If a man, holding a belief, which he was taught in childhood, or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men who call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it, the life of that man is one long sin against mankind	William K	Clifford	351
One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything outside his experience as being impossible.	Farengar	Secret-Fire	352
Everyone, in some small sacred sanctuary of the self, is nuts.	Leo	Rosten	353
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynisism by those who have not got it.	George Bernard	Shaw	354

"Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism."

David Suzuki, SGU Episode 338

"How weak our mind is; how quickly it is terrified and unbalanced as soon as we are confronted with a small, incomprehensible fact. Instead of dismissing the problem with: ‘We do not understand because we cannot find the cause,’ we immediately imagine terrible mysteries and supernatural powers."

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, SGU Episode 346

"You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown– only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood."

Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise, SGU Episode 347

"Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgements can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show."

Richard Feynman, SGU Episode 348

"Fear believes, courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and prays. Courage stands erect and thanks. Fear is barbarism. Courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, in devils and in ghosts. Fear is religion. Courage is science."

Robert Ingersoll, SGU Episode 350

"If a man, holding a belief, which he was taught in childhood, or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men who call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it, the life of that man is one long sin against mankind."

William K Clifford, SGU Episode 351

"One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything outside his experience as being impossible."

Farengar Secret-Fire, SGU Episode 352