Sam Harris Quotes

Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're using reason to make your case. ... We don't "believe" in reason.

It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

By free-thinking I mean the use of the understanding in endeavoring to find out the meaning of any proposition whatsoever, in considering the nature of the evidence for or against it, and in judging of it according to the seeming force or weakness of the evidence.

But even the people who don't like my opinions must admit that I always have a reason behind what I say.

Logic is the art of convincing us some truth.

When people disagreed with him he urged them to be objective.

My position is that we should not succumb to irrational belief.

Accurate and just reasoning is the only catholic remedy, fitted for all persons and all dispositions; and is alone able to subvert that abstruse philosophy and metaphysical jargon, which, being mixed up with popular superstition, renders it in a manner impenetrable to careless reasoners, and gives it the air of science and wisdom.

Logic works, metaphysics contemplates.

It would be awesome to be so impressive that we could sway people to our way of thinking just by declaiming our thoughts, but probably most of us lack such gravitas. Luckily, there's something even better: evidence, logic, and argument.

Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

Anything that gives us new knowledge gives us an opportunity to be more rational.

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

The very essence of rationalism is that it assumes that the reason is the highest faculty in man and the lord of all the rest.

The man of science is a poor philosopher.

I will live by the standard of reason, and if thinking in accordance with reason takes me to perdition, then I will go to hell with my reason rather than to heaven without it.

The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners.

Bad reasoning as well as good reasoning is possible; and this fact is the foundation of the practical side of logic.

A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.

In my opinion, it helps enormously to know why something is true, rather than being told it is true, for why should you believe me? Never believe anything on the authority of a single person but seek confirmation — and reason is the best confirmation

Logic can become enormously difficult, and it would undoubtedly be well to produce more assurance in its use.

If there is one thing that I take pride in, it is the fact that I never, ever make a charge without offering a substantial amount of support for it. You may ultimately end up not agreeing with me, but you will have to concede that I offered much evidence in support of my position, something that people frequently do not do.

I'm the type of person who responds to facts.

It is my mission to put sensible and evidence-based information above politics and exaggeration.

I don't make decisions with my heart, I use my brain to think things through.