Scepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at...

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

Skepticism can keep us from blessing, can keep us trapped in two minds.

So my antagonist said, “Is it impossible that there are flying saucers? Can you prove that it’s impossible?” “No”, I said, “I can’t prove it’s impossible. It’s just very unlikely”. At that he said, “You...

If we could believe that he [Jesus] really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanism which his biographers [Gospels] father on him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations, and theorizations of the fathers of the...

Science has carried us to the gateway to the universe. And yet our conception of our surroundings remains the disproportionate view of the still-small child. We are spiritually and culturally paralyzed, unable to face the...

If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then...

If you want to stay in for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognize and...

God, O God, where art thou? Thou art as distant to me as the lady combing rice in the Yunnan Province of China or a piece of floating space debris circling Pegasi. In this feeling-dead...

Those might not be the very best judges of the relation of religion to happiness who, by their own account, had neither one nor the other.

God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance.

Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance.

Another source of fallacy is the vicious circle of illusions which consists on the one hand of believing what we see, and on the other in seeing what we believe.

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.

In the past, [medicalization]has been portrayed as something that doctors inflict on a passive and un-suspecting world – an expansion of the Medical Empire. But in reality, it seems that these reductionist bio-medical stories can...

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday...

Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before...

It’s not true that skeptics consider nothing sacred. They consider freedom sacred.

People wrap themselves in their beliefs. And they do it in such a way that you can’t set them free. Not even the truth will set them free.

Take it with a whole shaker of salt, a grain won’t be close to enough.

For, from the time that the Bishop of Rome had gotten to be acknowledged for bishop universal, by pretence of succession to St. Peter, their whole hierarchy, or kingdom of darkness, may be compared not...

All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to believe.

He was the least spiritual of all the monks here, accepting nothing without proof. This skepticism was simultaneously his greatest asset and his greatest impediment.

The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it’s just the best we have. And to abandon it, with its skeptical protocols, is the pathway to a dark age.

There exists in society a very special class of persons that I have always referred to as the Believers. These are folks who have chosen to accept a certain religion, philosophy, theory, idea or notion...

Scientific knowledge advances haltingly and is stimulated by contention and doubt.

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.

Religion is like a blind man looking in a black room for a black cat that isn’t there, and finding it.

I always got a bit pissed off with those broadsheet sceptics who make their living being passionately angry about homeopathy, God, synchronicity or whatever, because it’s as if they can’t get past their emotions, and...

The real bible is not the work of inspired men, nor prophets, nor apostles, nor evangelists, nor of Christs. Every man who finds a fact, adds, as it were, a word to this great book....

If you are searching for sacred knowledge and not just a palliative for your fears, then you will train yourself to be a good skeptic.

Nevertheless, (Jefferson) believed that the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite for responsible citizenship. He argued that the cost of education is trivial compared to the cost of ignorance, of leaving government to the...

The more media trailed him, the more space he tried to create. He cultivated alienation and used it as a whetstone to stay sharp.

… le religioni non sono altro che residuo dei vecchi tabu selvatici, sistemi di divieto con diverse sovrastrutture ideologiche.””… religions are nothing but remnant of the old wild taboos, prohibition systems with varying ideological superstructure.

It would be better for us to have some doubts in an honest pursuit of truth, than it would be for us to be certain about something that was not true.

I’d ask [God] why he keeps trying to kill us all with disease, pestilence, and natural disasters. I’d ask why 99% of all species there ever were are now extinct — if God works in...

To point out nonepistemic motives in another’s view of the world, therefore, is always a criticism, as it serves to cast doubt upon a person’s connection to the world as it is.

There is skepticism among unionists as the IRA is blamed for the huge Northern Bank robbery last year and the question they are asking is: Will that money be used as pensions for old IRA...

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which...

One of the most important things one can do in life is to brutally question every single thing you are taught.

People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs.

I’m convinced that most men don’t know what they believe, rather, they only know what they wish to believe. How many people blame God for man’s atrocities, but wouldn’t dream of imprisoning a mother for...

[A] planet, wholly inhabited by spiders, (which is very possible)

We need sentiment and skepticism. Sentiment to be happy; skepticism to be free.

It seems all spirits need theatrics, eh? Even Christ himself requires incense and holy water. We’re a skeptical people. We need convincing.

There is a lot of skepticism,

See, I’m a great believer in the power of negative thought. And in an age of affirmation, of self-help and self-love, of the rebirth of wide-eyed idealism and the power of positive thinking — I’m...

The limit of man s knowledge in any subject possesses a high interest which is perhaps increased by its close neighbourhood to the realms of imagination.

My desire and wish is that the things I start with should be so obvious that you wonder why I spend my time stating them. This is what I aim at because the point of...