Christopher Hitchens Quotes

We need a world where the values of science are celebrated: free inquiry, free speech and a healthy skepticism, all coupled with a sense of wonder, a respect for truth and an ability to reason.

People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.

Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. ... Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable.

Too much doubt is better than too much credulity.

Incredulity is not wisdom.

If I could do just one thing, it would be to dissociate faith from virtue, now and for good, and to expose it for what it is, a servile weakness, a refuge in cowardice, and a willingness to follow, with credulity, people who are in the highest degree unscrupulous.

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.

Skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.

Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin.

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

I don't want you to trust me, I want you to question everything I say.

Thou shalt not take anything on faith

Skepticism does not preserve us from foolhardy deeds.

Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness.

The "passion for incredulity" can produce as much self-deception as the uncritical will to believe.

That day, I began to be incredulous. Or, rather, I regretted having been credulous. I regretted having allowed myself to be borne away by a passion of the mind. Such is credulity.

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect...

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers.

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

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

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.

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

The intellectual, the man of thought, doubt and analysis, should give the best of himself.

The University conceives of itself as dedicated to the power of the intellect. Its commitment is to the way of reason.