Hosea Ballou Quotes

My skepticism is strong, but my curiosity is stronger.

Uncertainty is a very good thing: it's the beginning of an investigation, and the investigation should never end.

By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.

It is wiser to find out than to suppose.

Carl did not want to believe. He wanted to know.

Which country is real, mine or the teacher's? My wish is that we might progressively lose our confidence in what we think we believe and the things we consider stable and secure, in order to remind ourselves of the infinite number of things still waiting to be discovered.

William James used to preach the "will-to-believe." For my part, I should wish to preach the "will-to-doubt." None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

Between truth and the search for it, I choose the second.

Science is always inquiring.

The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found.

The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.

I love to doubt as well as know.

The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.

I am really more interested in questions than in giving answers.

I'm always looking, and I'm always asking questions.

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.

Skepticism is the first step towards truth.

Constant and frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom … For through doubting we are led to inquire, and by inquiry we perceive the truth.

A question is a pursuit, an invitation to envision and explore a series of possibilities, to struggle and empathize and doubt and believe. The question moves, whereas our sense of what an answer is can often be static, a stopping point.

Science is about questioning things.

If you're interested in something, do some more research and don't be afraid to ask questions. At the very worst you're going to know more than you did at the start of the day.