Aleister Black Quotes

I love to doubt as well as know.

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Question everything!

I've always been really curious about things and slightly confused by the world, and I think someone who feels that way is in a good position to be the one asking questions.

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

Oxford also taught me something else - it taught me scepticism.

Being a skeptic just means being rational and empirical: thinking and seeing before believing.

Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.

By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.

The New Age movement looks like a mixed bag. I see much in it that seems good: It's optimistic; it's enthusiastic; it has the capacity for belief. On the debit side, I think one needs to distinguish between belief and credulity.

In principle, skeptics are neither closed-minded nor cynical. We are curious but cautious.

Skepticism is the first step towards truth.

A healthy skepticism, regularly exercised…

To think critically is always to be hostile.

Over the years, I paid careful attention in client meetings and jotted down things that quite didn't make sense. And I had the courage to raise questions and to be skeptical when something didn't add up.

Some people spend their time reasoning and thinking out everything, and so anything that cannot be fully understood, they will not accept. We call these people 'intellectuals.'

There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.

The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

They only babble who practise not reflection.

Curiosity begins as an act of tearing to pieces or analysis.

Be Skeptical, but learn to listen.

I try not to be overly analytical.

It's sort of a mental attitude about critical thinking and curiosity. It's about mindset of looking at the world in a playful and curious and creative way.

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

An audience shouldn't listen with complacency.