Believe Quote by H. L. Mencken
“The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woe, is his stupendous capacity for believing the incredible.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The American Language, 1912
Human tendency to believe the unbelievable leads to widespread folly and suffering.
In simple terms: Believing the incredible causes problems.
Key Takeaway
Question extraordinary claims critically.
Themes
critical thinking
skepticism
human nature
Mood
cautionary
philosophical
Type
essay
reflective
When to use this quote
- reading news
- evaluating rumors
- making decisions
Key Concepts
cognitive bias
belief systems
misinformation
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you discern truth from fantasy?
- What role does skepticism play in society?
A Different Perspective
May overlook genuine wonder.
![“By profession a biologist, [Thomas Henry Huxley] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences. Absolutely nothing was uninteresting to him. His curiosity ranged from music to theology and from philosophy to history. He didn't simply know something…” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f46/h-l-mencken-245_absolutely-nothing_by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-h_5368.jpg)
