Stephanie Ruhle Quotes

The interesting thing is always to see if you can find a fact that will change your mind about something, to test and see if you can.

Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes and cliches.

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance with his instincts, he will accept it even on the slenderest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

Having learned something, we tend to cling to that belief, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. New information comes in all time, and the thing we ought to be thinking about doing is changing our beliefs as that new information comes in.

When we are in the grasp of illusion - or, for that matter, whenever we have a new idea - instead of searching for ways to prove our ideas wrong, we usually attempt to prove them correct. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias, and it presents a major impediment of our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness.

I think it's important to view the issues on the broadest possible reference plane. In fact, if you firmly believe in any issue, I urge you to read the opposite of it. Most of the time, it'll merely reinforce your original beliefs, but on the rare occasion, it might change your mind.

If you tell me that the sky is red, I will look up.

All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.

Get into the habit of imagining an alternate scenario. By posing such 'imagine if' questions... we can distance ourselves from the frames, cues, anchors and rhetoric that might be affecting us.

My point is that perceptual bias can affect nut jobs and scientists alike. If we hold too rigidly to what we think we know, we ignore or avoid evidence of anything that might change our mind.

I don't question things that go against what I believe very much. But boy, the stuff that I really want to believe, I really question a lot.

Scepticism is a necessary and vital part of the journalist's toolkit. But when scepticism becomes cynicism it can close off thought and block the search for truth.

The logic of validation allows us to move between the two limits of dogmatism and skepticism.

Nothing energizes me more than to burrow myself under a pile of received wisdom and emerge triumphant with the truth.

Sometimes I like to list the strongest arguments I can find to support a point of view I think is wrong. When I have them before me, I am up against a real opponent rather than a hypothetical one that is an easy target for me to hit.

Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.

No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe.

Scientific criticism has no nobler task than to shatter false beliefs.

Facts matter, especially when they conflict with dogma and preconceived notions. Pretending otherwise has consequences.

Do not believe just because you want to believe.

Resist the temptation to subject yourself only to that which re-affirms what you already think.

As a general rule, if you want to get at the truth - hear both sides and believe neither.

You should not believe a thing only because you like to believe it. We call that 'Diax's Rake.

The human mind can hardly remain entirely free from bias, and decisive opinions are often formed before a thorough examination of a subject from all its aspects has been made.

You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.