100 Skepticism Quotes

Following is our list of skepticism quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about skepticism philosophy.

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Famous Skepticism Quotes

Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind. — John Dewey

Great intellects are skeptical. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Just because an idea is widely accepted doesn't mean it is necessarily correct. Skepticism is key. — Bret Weinstein

Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion — Richard P. Feynman

I am skeptical in principle, gullible in practice. — Mason Cooley

By skepticism . . . we arrive first at suspension of judgment, and second at freedom from disturbance. — Sextus Empiricus

The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism. — George Jean Nathan

Skepticism must go hand in hand with rationality. When theories are shown to be false, the correct thing to do is to move on. — Brian Cox

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense. — Carl Sagan

A skeptic is a person who, when he sees the handwriting on the wall, claims it is a forgery. — Morris Bender

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. — Robert K. Merton

Extreme skepticism and extreme gullibility are two equal ways of not having to think at all. And I don't think I'm the first to say that. — Neil deGrasse Tyson

Doubt is the origin of wisdom - Rene Descartes

Doubt is the origin of wisdom — Rene Descartes

I prefer credulity to skepticism and cynicism for there is more promise in almost anything than in nothing at all. — Ralph B. Perry

Short Skepticism Quotes

  • The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think. — Aristotle
  • Do not allow yourselves to be deceived: Great Minds are Skeptical. — Friedrich Nietzsche
  • The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. — Bertrand Russell
  • It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind. — Naguib Mahfouz
  • I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical. — Arthur C. Clarke
  • On the road from the City of Skepticism, I had to pass through the Valley of Ambiguity. — Adam Smith
  • The whole medical industry wants us sick. — Wim Hof
  • The climate agenda is a hoax. — Vivek Ramaswamy
  • Don’t take any wooden nickels. — American Proverbs
  • Don't believe the fake media. — Jake Paul

Skepticism Image Quotes

You know, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. - Carly Fiorina quote

You know, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. — Carly Fiorina

Healthy Skepticism Quotes

Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good. — Daniel Patrick Moynihan

In science, a healthy skepticism is a professional necessity, whereas in religion, having belief without evidence is regarded as a virtue. — Paul Davies

As a conservative, I maintain a healthy skepticism of the theory of man-made global warming. I also believe that more people enjoying the fruits of modernity and economic development is a good thing - as long as those people arrived legally and obey the law. — Gary Bauer

I simply go with what works. And what works is the healthy skepticism embodied in the scientific method. Believe me, if the Bible had ever been shown to be a rich source of scientific answers and enlightenment, we would be mining it daily for cosmic discovery. — Neil deGrasse Tyson

Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation. — Arthur Conan Doyle

Everyone, including skeptics, will generate delusions that match their views. That is how a normal and healthy brain works. Skeptics are not exempt from self-delusion. — Scott Adams

Skepticism is provisional, even if it lasts a lifetime. — Jose Bergamin

There's a very healthy tradition in America of skepticism of centralized power. If we ever lose the skepticism of centralized power, we'll lose the essence of the country. — Howard Fineman

True courage is mixed with circumspection, the kind of healthy skepticism that asks, 'Is this the best way to do this?' True cowardice is marked by chronic skepticism, which always says, 'It can't be done.' — William Bennett

Every theory in medicine, if medicine is to remain healthy, must be beaten out on the anvil of skepticism. So do we weed out charlatanism. — Alice Tisdale Hobart

Skepticism Philosophy Quotes

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..." — Carl Sagan

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. — Bertrand Russell

If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. — Carl Sagan

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance. — Bertrand Russell

The permanent mental attitude which the sensitive intelligence derives from philosophy is an attitude that combines extreme reverence with limitless skepticism. — John Cowper Powys

All the progress we have made in philosophy ... is the result of that methodical skepticism which is the element of human freedom. — Charles Sanders Peirce

What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth. — Denis Diderot

There is, indeed a more mitigated scepticism or academical philosophy, which may be both durable and useful, and which may, in part, be the result of this Pyrrhonism, or excessive scepticism, when its undistinguished doubts are corrected by common sense and reflection. — David Hume

You cannot prove realism to a complete sceptic or idealist; but you can show an honest man that he is not a complete sceptic or idealist, but a realist at heart. So long as he is alive his sincere philosophy must fulfil the assumptions of his life and not destroy him. — George Santayana

Sceptical Quotes

I'm no longer sceptical. I no longer have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world. — David Attenborough

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible. — Natan Sharansky

Any trend that generates a lot of excitement encounters scepticism due to the bad experiences - internet and housing crashes - of the past 20 years. — Cathie Wood

So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with scepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean. — Will Durant

But we are living in a sceptical and, if I may use the phrase, a thought-tormented age: and sometimes I fear that this new generation, educated or hyper-educated as it is, will lack those qualities of humanity, of hospitality, of kindly humour which belonged to an older day. — James Joyce

It is the decisive people who have become civilised; it is the indecisive, otherwise called the higher sceptics, or the idealistic doubters, who have remained barbarians. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence scepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone. — Denis Diderot

A sceptic finds Dallas absurd. A cynic thinks the public doesn't — Clive James

We are of different opinions at different hours, but we always may be said to be at heart on the side of truth. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Scotsmen are metaphisical and emotional, they are sceptical and mystical, they are romantic and ironic, they are cruel and tender, and full of mirth and despair. — William Dunbar

People Writing About Skepticism

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche
quotes on god, love and morality

2473 32550
Read quotes by John Dewey

John Dewey
quotes on education, pragmatism and education and democracy

421 4699
Read quotes by Bret Weinstein

Bret Weinstein
quotes on diversity, religion and intelligence

77 1
Read quotes by Richard P. Feynman

Richard P. Feynman
quotes on education, life and science

430 3355
Read quotes by Mason Cooley

Mason Cooley
quotes on culture, justice and freedom

1227 2367
Read quotes by Sextus Empiricus

Sextus Empiricus

9 168

More Skepticism Quotes

I'm a big skeptic so I won't just go off what an individual may tell me. I gotta do the research. I'ma get different literature on that one subject and just compare and contrast. I do my own selective studies. — Kevin Gates

I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. — Thomas Paine

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. — George Bernard Shaw

It is the spectators, the people who are outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world's greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith. — James Stewart

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. — Arthur Conan Doyle

Education must enable young people to effect what they have recognized to be right, despite hardships, despite dangers, despite inner skepticism, despite boredom, and despite mockery from the world. . . . — Kurt Hahn

Take it with a grain of salt. — American Proverbs

He who thinks the worst usually is right — Greek Proverbs

I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions... Don't take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can't. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself. — Noam Chomsky

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true. — Carl Sagan

We have all been told that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I have long thought this is nonsense. — Bret Weinstein

I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where they two mutually inspire each other to live– if I’ m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love. — Hayao Miyazaki

Conservatives tend to be very skeptical of change. When something could be improved, they often get in the way of those improvements because they fear the unintended consequence perhaps more than they should. — Bret Weinstein

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 everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead. — Timothy Keller

All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. — H. L. Mencken

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved? — Carl Sagan

Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. — John Templeton

The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true. — Carl Sagan

The truth does not mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged. — Patrick Bet-David

Anybody is able to doubt me. I say, 'Come with your criticism to polish the diamond of the truth.' People need to wake up to their own power. Everybody has this nature. — Wim Hof

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

The people who are constantly striving to apply skepticism to everything in their lives, the ones who actually care enough about truth and [care to try to] avoid being wrong, and biased, and prejudiced, and clueless; those are the people we need, and need to be. — Matt Dillahunty

Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create. — Calvin Coolidge

Everyone - pantheist, atheist, skeptic, polytheist - has to answer these questions: 'Where did I come from? What is life's meaning? How do I define right from wrong and what happens to me when I die?' Those are the fulcrum points of our existence. — Ravi Zacharias

Belief in God and a future life makes it possible to go through life with less of stoic courage than is needed by skeptics. — Bertrand Russell

We all approached doing a sequel with great trepidation and skepticism. — Jason Biggs

Commitment is what transforms a promise into a reality... Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism. — Abraham Lincoln

You are absolutely sure that you’re not wrong. This feeling is something we should always be skeptical of. — Naval Ravikant

Investment risk comes primarily from too high prices, and too high prices often come from excessive optimism and inadequate skepticism and risk aversion. — Howard S. Marks

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