Eric Weiner Quotes

Believe those who seek the truth; doubt those who find it.

Incredulity is not wisdom.

Faith never means gullibility. The man who believes everything is as far from God as the man who refuses to believe anything.

In childhood our credulity serves us well. It helps us to pack, with extraordinary rapidity, our skulls full of the wisdom of our parents and our ancestors. But if we don't grow out of it in the fullness of time, our ... nature makes us a sitting target for astrologers, mediums, gurus, evangelists, and quacks. We need to replace the automatic credulity of childhood with the constructive skepticism of adult science.

It is no sin to doubt some things, but it may be fatal to believe everything.

The "passion for incredulity" can produce as much self-deception as the uncritical will to believe.

Seek the company of those who are looking for the truth, but run from those who have found it.

Don't accuse anyone with the temerity to question your sad supernatural fantasies of having a 'closed mind' or being 'blind to possibilities'. A closed mind asks no questions, unthinkingly accepting that which it wants to believe. The blindness is all yours.

He that believes all misseth; he that believes nothing, hits not.

Buddhism strongly discourages blind faith and fanaticism.

I protest against any absolute conclusion.

Of all the weaknesses little men rail against, there is none that they are more apt to ridicule than the tendency to believe. And of all the signs of a corrupt heart and a feeble head, the tendency of incredulity is the surest. Real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny.

There are only two things one has to bear in mind. One has to be credulous - able to believe - and skeptical - able to not believe, because if you are not skeptical, you will believe rubbish. If you are not credulous you will learn nothing and the only way to balance those two is to recognize the mystery of things.

I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It.

The man scarce lives who is not more credulous than he ought to be... The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough.

Skepticism is my only gospel, but I don't want to make a dogma out of it.

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

What is important is that one utilizes one's intellect and not to be 100 percent sure about one's convictions. One should always leave room for doubt.

Credulity without enquiry is a sure way to deceive oneself.

Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.

Those who know nothing must believe everything.

It is equally a fault to believe all men or to believe none.

Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly.

The few have said, Think! The many have said, Believe! The first doubt was the womb and cradle of progress, and from the first doubt, man has continued to advance.

I hate doubt, yet I am certain that doubt is the only way to approach anything worth believing in.