Thomas Nagel Quotes

I hate facts. I always say the chief end of man is to form general propositions - adding that no general proposition is worth a damn.

Surely love has nothing to do with the mind, it is not the product of the mind; love is entirely independent of calculation, of thought.

The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.

There is still a popular fantasy, long since disproved by both psychoanalysis and science, and never believed by any poet or mystic, that it is possible to have a thought without a feeling. It isn’t. When we are objective we are subjective too. When we are neutral we are involved. When we say ‘I think’ we don’t leave our emotions outside the door. To tell someone not to be emotional is to tell them to be dead.

Of course, there are different truths on different levels. Things are true relative to other things; "long" and "short" relate to each other, "high" and "low," and so on. But is there any absolute truth? Something self-sufficient, independently true in itself? I don't think so.

And as well as I dream, I reason if I want, for that's just another kind of dream.

Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has the right to be wrong in his facts.

Skepticism is the first step towards truth.

The truth is always the strongest argument.

Opinions should not be allowed to become conclusions

Facts are more mundane than fantasies, but a better basis for conclusions.

Modern science's defense against self-delusion relies upon a spirit of open and critical inquiry. This, though hardly infallible, ostensibly uncovers errors and thereby proceeds towards objective truth

Facts are placed before reasonings and before ideals, even though the reasonings and the ideals be more beautiful, be seemingly more lofty, be seemingly better, be seemingly truer. The seemingly absurd and the seemingly impossible are sometimes true. The scientific disposition is to accept facts upon evidence, however absurd they may appear to our pre-conceptions.

The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Observation and thinking are the two points of departure for all the spiritual striving of man, insofar as he is conscious of such striving. The workings of common sense, as well as the most complicated scientific researches, rest on these two fundamental pillars of our spirit.

Some people have facts; these can be proven. Some people have theories; these can be disproven. But people with opinions are mindless and have their minds made up about it.

I consider myself a realist.

You're entitled your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

I have been saying this from the beginning: people are going to say whatever they want to say or believe whatever they want to believe. I say this to people: stick to the facts.

Just because you’re offended, it doesn’t mean you’re right.

I really like individualism based on truth.

Everything is but what we think it.

It's not "wishful" thinking.

Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.