Skepticism Quotes

Skepticism is the beginning of faith.

— Oscar Wilde

“Re-examine all that you have been told.”

— Walt Whitman

I have sworn upon the altar of god.

— Thomas Jefferson

To believe in luck ... is skepticism.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect.

— George Santayana

Science is the search for truth.

— Linus Pauling

Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Skepticism doesn't help you hear.

— Seth Godin

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

— Christopher Hitchens

Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.

— Romain Rolland

Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.

— John Dewey

Everybody's part of the greater whole and skepticism and virtue are a part of that.

— Marc Webb

A reflection of good science is that a step forward opens up a lot more questions.

— Anonymous

Scepticism is always a back road leading to some credo or other.

— Mason Cooley

“The best way to destroy the decrepit is to build the glorious.”

— Stefan Molyneux

This notion [skepticism] is more clearly understood by asking "What do I know?"

— Michel de Montaigne

When a man finds a conclusion agreeable, he accepts it without argument, but when he finds it disagreeable, he will bring against…

— Thucydides

I believe there is no source of deception in the investigation of nature which can compare with a fixed belief that certain…

— William James

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

— Ambrose Bierce

The great, the fundamental need of any nation, any race, is for heroism, devotion, sacrifice; and there cannot be heroism, devotion, or…

— Anna Julia Cooper

You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see…

— Carl Sagan

“You have opposition to love?” “Not opposition so much as skepticism. I make it a practice not to believe in things I…

— Sarah MacLean

The logic of validation allows us to move between the two limits of dogmatism and skepticism.

— Paul Ricoeur

“When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

— Anonymous

Scepticism, ironically, draws its life's blood from claims to have a good deal of knowledge. For example, your friends claim to know,…

— William Lane Craig

“God is not a God of confusion, although at times one's judgment, for a period, may become clouded in the mi(d)st of…

— Criss Jami

It seems certain, that though a man, in a flush of humour, after intense reflection on the many contradictions and imperfections of…

— David Hume

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy…

— Bertrand Russell

The fact that Newton and Michael Faraday and other scientists of the past were deeply religious shows that religious skepticism is not…

— Steven Weinberg

My advice to those who which to learn the art of scientific prophesy is not to rely on abstract reason, but to…

— Max Born

I expressed skepticism, in the first chapter, about the utility of time machines in historical research. I especially advised against graduate students…

— John Lewis Gaddis

“Questioning our own motives, and our own process, is critical to a skeptical and scientific outlook. We must realize that the default…

— Steven Novella

“I believe the experiences reported in this book are reproducible by anyone who wishes to try. I went to Africa. You can…

— Michael Crichton

“The major religions on the Earth contradict each other left and right. You can't all be correct. And what if all of…

— Carl Sagan

“Why do we not accept ESP as a psychological fact? Rhine has offered enough evidence to have convinced us on almost any…

— Donald Hebb

Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect. A man does not see, that, as he eats, so he thinks: as he deals,…

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all…

— Carl Sagan

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to…

— G.K. Chesterton

“We must work hard at overcoming the natural tendency to see causal connections and other patterns where there are none by examining…

— Robert Carroll

If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You become a crotchety old person convinced that…

— Carl Sagan