Sheri S. Tepper Quotes

Buddhism strongly discourages blind faith and fanaticism.

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

Liberalism is an attitude rather than a set of dogmas - an attitude that insists upon questioning all plausible and self-evident propositions, seeking not to reject them but to find out what evidence there is to support them rather than their possible alternatives.

A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others - not by simply taking over another's opinions, but by gladly allowing others to criticize his ideas and by gladly criticizing the ideas of others

I know too much to be a sceptic and too little to be a dogmatist.

True science teaches, above all, to doubt and to be ignorant.

Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.

If children were taught to question and think through their beliefs, instead of being taught the superior virtue of faith without question, it is a good bet that there would be no suicide bombers.

I like the scientific spirit-the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine-it always keeps the way beyond open.

Science is a method, not a religion, yet it can be just as close-minded. Open minds here Claire. Always open minds. Question everything, accept nothing as fact until you prove it for yourself.

Incredulity is not wisdom.

You mustn’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.

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

I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It.

if you don't have doubts you're either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants-in-the-pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.

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

A ginooine statesman should be on his guard, if he must hev beliefs, not to b'lieve 'em too hard.

The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on 'I am not too sure'.

If you want to stay in for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognize and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows he is right. For the dissenter, the skeptical mentality is at least as important as any armor of principle.

The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues.

The scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.