Charles Darwin Quotes

True science teaches, above all, to doubt

The doubter is a true man of science: he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.

Skepticism is not a position; it's a process.

It's always good in science to say "Well how do you know that?" and "Are you really sure?" and "Could there be an exceptional case?"

A healthy skepticism, regularly exercised…

The great benefit of philosophy, which is also its great weakness, is that all its steps are taken in the spirit of doubt.

I'm a very skeptical guy: my willing suspension of disbelief doesn't go very far when I'm reading other people's SF, and it goes even less far when I'm writing my own.

Nothing should be taken for granted, even if everybody believes it.

I respect and believe skeptics.

I'm a rationalist and a skeptic, someone who safely separates faith from reason.

I would proclaim that the vast majority of what [say, Scientific American] is true-yet my ability to defend such a claim is weaker than I would like. And most likely the readers, authors, and editors of that magazine would be equally hard pressed to come up with cogent, non-technical arguments convincing a skeptic of this point, especially if pitted against a clever lawyer arguing the contrary. How come Truth is such a slippery beast?

I am discounting the reports of UFOs. Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos?

Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought, as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that all the lessons are true... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

The faculty of doubting is rare among men. A few choice spirits carry the germs of it in them, but these do not develop without training.

There is so much in this world to be skeptical about if you want to be a skeptical a**hole. I'm kind of a skeptical a**hole. But not about vaccines, that's just not one of them.

Doubt everything or believe everything: these are two equally convenient strategies. With either we dispense with the need for reflection.

Skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.

Indeed the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the proponents of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well advised to abandon it. This self-questioning and error-correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property.

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

Whatever is proposed, it is much easier to find reasons for rejecting than embracing.

Never believe what you cannot doubt.

I don't want you to trust me, I want you to question everything I say.

Start out understanding religion by saying everything is possibly wrong... As soon as you do that, you start sliding down an edge which is hard to recover from.

This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. It becomes a habit of thought. Once acquired, we cannot retreat from it anymore.

Only the most uncritical minds are free from doubt.