Margaret Deland Quotes

Faith is an island in the setting sun, But proof is the bottom line for everyone.

People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.

As reason is a rebel to faith, so passion is a rebel to reason.

Logic is no answer to passion.

It is not the Head but the Heart that is the Seat of Atheism.

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are showing you the grounds of it.

Faith is not uprooted by dialectic proof; it must already be deeply shaken by other causes to be unable to withstand the shock of argument.

Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies.

Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.

Faith is a continuation of reason.

It is not rational to assume, without evidence, that rationality can disclose everything about the world, just because it can disclose some things. Our intuition in favour of rationality, where we are inclined to use it, is just that - an intuition. Reason is founded in intuition and ends in intuition, like a pair of massive bookends.

The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.

Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated.

Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

Science stands for rational thought, faith for superstition and unreason.

Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

We must never assume that which is incapable of proof.

Faith is the effort to believe what your common sense tells you is not true.

Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they understand.

In my opinion, it helps enormously to know why something is true, rather than being told it is true, for why should you believe me? Never believe anything on the authority of a single person but seek confirmation — and reason is the best confirmation

Faith feels itself secure neither with universal consent, nor with tradition, nor with authority. It seeks support of its enemy, reason.

Man is said to be a reasoning animal. I do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. Perhaps that which differentiates him from other animals is feeling rather than reason

The scientist insists on verification; the religious theologian does not; the philosopher sometimes does and sometimes does not