Edward R. Murrow Quotes

Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.

We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men ... We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

If any man has left us for fear of Nero, I shall not account him a coward; but I shall hail as a philosopher any man who has been superior to this fear, and I shall teach him all I know.

I possess a strong sense of reason.

He who dares not reason, is a slave.

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.

The only hope I can see for the future depends on a wiser and braver use of the reason, not a panic flight from it.

The most important function of the university in an age of reason is to protect reason from itself.

Science stands for rational thought, faith for superstition and unreason.

If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold.

There can be no greater folly than by fearing that which is not.

The voice of the intelligence ... is drowned out by the roar of fear. It is ignored by the voice of desire. It is contradicted by the voice of shame. It is hissed away by hate, and extinguished by anger. Most of all it is silenced by ignorance.

The mind God is looking for in man is a doubting, questioning mind, not a dogmatic mind; dogmatic reasoning is wrong reasoning. Dogmatic reason ties a huge rock to a man’s foot and stops him forever from advancing.

I find it easier to approach things from a critical angle that otherwise may seem daunting because I'm used to being scared.

My view is that we cannot be ruled by fear. When we do that, we are not making ourselves see. We are not thinking things through. We are not looking at what works.

I am not someone who is afraid; I am someone who reasons.

I don't operate on fear, and I don't let fear control me.

I don't feel fear anymore, in any form.

Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.

To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.

To destroy guide-boards that point in the wrong direction . . . to drive the fiend of fear from the mind . . . is the task of the Freethinker.

In matters of intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard for any other consideration.