Aldo Leopold Quotes

As scientists, we need to not be afraid of the truth.

Men on their side must force themselves for a while to lay their notions by and begin to familiarize themselves with facts.

Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself.

Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or what you think could have beneficent social effects if it were believed; but look only and solely at what are the facts.

I see men ordinarily more eager to discover a reason for things than to find out whether the things are so.

When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe, but look only and surely at what are the facts.

Unscientific man is beset by a deplorable desire to have been right. The scientist is distinguished by a desire to be right.

[Science] is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. ... The obvious is sometimes false; the unexpected is sometimes true.

Science is a way to not fool ourselves.

Rationalism doesn't require "belief," only observation. The real, measurable world doesn't care what you believe.

Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes.

An open mind is not an end in itself but a means to the end of finding truth.

I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs.

[Kepler] preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions, and that is the heart of science.

Science teaches us, in effect, to submit our reason to the truth and to know and judge of things as they are-that is to say, as they themselves choose to be and not as we would have them to be.

I think what attracts me about the Electric Monk is that it's such an eloquent example of the futility of belief for belief's sake. I mean there's only any point in believing something if it's true.

A man ceases to be an honest doubter the moment he refuses one way of getting at the truth because he does not like that way.

Truth is the recognition of reality; reason, man's only means of knowledge, is his only standard of truth.

I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people's politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true.

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

The scientific attitude of mind involves a sweeping away of all other desires in the interest of the desire to know.

Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves.

Remember that [scientific thought] is the guide of action; that the truth which it arrives at is not that which we can ideally contemplate without error, but that which we may act upon without fear; and you cannot fail to see that scientific thought is not an accompaniment or condition of human progress, but human progress itself.

I believe that through its rational evaluation of truth and indifference to personal belief, science transcends religious and political divisions and so does bind us into a greater, more resilient whole.

My religion recognizes no obligation to resolve doubt other than through rational means; and it commands no mere faith in eternal truths