Don DeLillo Quotes

I'd rather see folks doubt what's true than accept what isn't.

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

[Children] are taught that it is a virtue to accept statements without adequate evidence, which leaves them a prey to quacks of every kind in later life, and makes it very difficult for them to accept the methods of thought which are successful in science.

Yeah, but I don't believe everything I read.

If two things don't fit, but you believe both of them, thinking that somewhere, hidden, there must be a third thing that connects them, that's credulity.

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.

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.

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

I might respect you as a brilliant intellect, runner, musician or juggler. But respect your BELIEFS? Only if they're supported by evidence.

Faith means the purposeful suspension of critical thinking. It’s nothing to be admired.

I am someone that follows the news and reads newspapers yet what do you believe and what don't you.

Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.

Incredulity is the wisdom of the fool.

If you don't believe in a line, then you come off as the loser.

If smart people are parodying it, that's a sure sign that some less smart people are believing it.

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.

Faith does not mean credulity...

I do not believe in Belief.

Belief is desecrated when given to unproved and unquestioned statements for the solace and private pleasure of the believer . . . It is wrong always, everywhere, and for every one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.

More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing, than by believing too much.

A man of good sense always believes what he is told, and what he finds written down.

Why can you believe the lie, but not the truth?

The problem I want to talk to you about tonight is the problem of belief. What does it mean to believe? We use this word all the time, and I think behind it lurk some really extraordinary taboos and confusions. What I want to argue tonight is that how we talk about belief- how we fail to criticize or criticize the beliefs of others, has more importance to us personally, more consequence to us personally and to civilization than perhaps anything else that is in our power to influence.

A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa.