Selected critical thinking quotes

1. Liberal learning is both a safeguard against false ideas of freedom and a source of true ones.

2. A Socrates in every classroom.

3. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

4. The task of the real intellectual consists of analyzing illusions in order to discover their causes.

5. My computer must be broken: whenever I ask a wrong question, it gives a wrong answer.

6. The greatest obstacle to discovering the truth is being convinced that you already know it.

7. History may never have all the facts, but history always has the last word.

8. To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.

9. In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

10. When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false.

11. Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

12. There is nothing I congratulate myself on more heartily than on never having joined a sect.

13. To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

14. Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.

15. To accept capitalism and Free Enterprise as articles of faith without agreeing that we must be free to consider whether what is offered is free and freeing is itself enslavement.

16. At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.

17. Reading is important - read between the lines. Don't swallow everything.

18. It is only the inferior thinker who hastens to explain the singular and the complex by the primitive shortcut of supernaturalism.

19. Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world.

20. Mistrust the person who finds everything good, and the person who finds everything evil, and mistrust even more the person who is indifferent to everything.

21. It is undoubtedly easier to believe in absolutes, follow blindly, mouth received wisdom. But that is self-betrayal.

22. If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories. In this way it is only too easy to obtain what appears to be overwhelming evidence in favor of a theory which, if approached critically, would have been refuted.

23. Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

24. The open society is one in which men have learned to be to some extent critical of taboos, and to base decisions on the authority of their own intelligence.

25. Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.

26. If one knows only what one is told, one does not know enough to be able to arrive at a well-balanced decision.

27. In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination.

28. The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed.

29. The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised.

30. If superstition enters, the brain is gone.

31. Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact.

32. A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

33. Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

34. The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder's lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

35. I resolved from the beginning of my quest that I would not be misled by sentiment and desire into beliefs for which there was no good evidence.

36. It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.

37. The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

38. Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

39. To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.

40. Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, 'Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you.'

41. Just as we teach children to avoid being destroyed by motor cars if they can, so we should teach them to avoid being destroyed by cruel fanatics, and to this end we should seek to produce independence of mind, somewhat sceptical and wholly scientific, and to preserve, as far as possible, the instinctive joy of life that is natural to healthy children. This is the task of a liberal education: to give a sense of the value of things other than domination, to help create wise citizens of a free community, and through the combination of citizenship with liberty in individual creativeness to enable men to give to human life that splendour which some few have shown that it can achieve.

42. Hume, by his criticism of the concept of causality, awakened him from his dogmatic slumbers-so at least he says, but the awakening was only temporary, and he soon invented a soporific which enabled him to sleep again.

43. In a man whose reasoning powers are good, fallacious arguments are evidence of bias.

44. Discussion: 'Try to keep your mind open to new ideas and never let offense stand in the way of discourse, for discourse and the exchange of ideas is the only motion by which the chaff is separated from the wheat in the world of ideas.'

45. Education: 'In America, educators punish those who actually think for themselves. There is only acceptance for popular opinion.'

46. Ignorance: 'Most people do not actually know how to think for themselves, and unfortunately that prevents them from even knowing it.'

47. Education: 'One of the most important things one can do in life is to brutally question every single thing you are taught.'

48. Arguments from authority simply do not count; too many authorities have been mistaken too often.

49. I personally regret the shift in literary study from reading primary texts to reading critical and theoretical texts. The major problem today among students is that they simply have not read enough literature. Consequently they do not have the necessary background to take a critical attitude towards literary theory. One needs to test every abstraction against experience.

50. Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments. (107)

51. Lastly, there are Idols which have immigrated into men's minds from the various dogmas of philosophies, and also from wrong laws of demonstration. These I call Idols of the Theater, because in my judgment all the received systems are but so many stage plays, representing worlds of their own creation after an unreal and scenic fashion.

52. I can see the sham - but where's the rock?

53. Some people read because they are too lazy to think.

54. Ideas came swarming through her, and like many people who labour in the obsession of solitude, she lacked the detachment to challenge them.

55. C'est meme des hypotheses simples qu'il faut le plus se defier, parce que ce sont celles qui ont le plus de chances de passer inapercues.

56. Douter de tout ou tout croire, ce sont deux solutions egalement commodes, qui l'une et l'autre nous dispensent de reflechir.

57. We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus.

58. His insatiable passion for singular odds and ends had a meaning in it; he was groping towards a scientific ordering of phenomena; but the twilight of his age was too confusing, and he could rarely distinguish between a fact and a fantasy.

59. Because the managerial elites are now so large and have such a dominant effect on our educational system, we are actually teaching most people to manage, not to think. Not only do we not reward thought, we punish it as unprofessional.

60. We question most of the mantras around here periodically, in case you hadn't noticed. :-)

61. Check your assumptions. In fact, check your assumptions at the door.

62. The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose.

63. Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

64. Probability is a liberal art.

65. Damn, but they've got us brainwashed, haven't they!

66. He knew she meant it. Everyone knew she meant it, and everyone knew what she said was true. Everyone had know it for years.

67. There's a man who came to stay The boy he replaced, disappeared without a trace. Stole all my songs and my style away No-one would say what they wanted to say So he was king for a day. If you sail into the sun Beware the eyes of green And if the whole world tells you 'you are the one' I defy you not to believe them, my son...

68. The eulogies of my intelligence are positively intended to evade the question 'Is what she says true?'

69. Science has taught... me to be careful how I adopt a view which jumps with my preconceptions, and to require stronger evidence for such belief than for one to which I was previously hostile.

70. Not far from the invention of fire must rank the invention of doubt.

71. I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

72. Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the MAN. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.

73. Il y a eu des gens qui ont dit autrefois: Vous croyez des choses incomprehensibles, contradictoires, impossibles, parce que nous vous l'avons ordonne; faites donc des choses injustes parce que nous vous l'ordonnons. Ces gens-la raisonnaient a merveille. Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde est en droit de vous rendre injuste. Si vous n'opposez point aux ordres de croire l'impossible l'intelligence que Dieu a mise dans votre esprit, vous ne devez point opposer aux ordres de malfaire la justice que Dieu a mise dans votre coeur. Une faculte de votre ame etant une fois tyrannisee, toutes les autres facultes doivent l'etre egalement. Et c'est la ce qui a produit tous les crimes religieux dont la terre a ete inondee.

74. 'This next song goes out to those who still believe that there is an american dream. And still believe that within that dream there is something called freedom. It is time to fucking wake up, and begin to truly think for ourselves, and find new sources of information... otherwise - things like what's happening in the persian gulf with continue. They will be able to make decisions for you, unless you fucking wake up, and take that veil of complacence from your eyes, and fucking begin to remove the bullet from your head.' [Said before performing Bullet in the Head]

75. Using a point to show that a point is not a point is not as good as using a nonpoint to show that a point is not a point.

76. The only we think we don't outsource is our intelligence.

77. A great memory does not make a philosopher, any more than a dictionary can be called grammar.

78. Just because you're paranoid Don't mean they're not after you.

79. 'What is Bazarov?' Arkady smiled. 'Would you like me to tell you, uncle, what he really is?' 'Please do, nephew.' 'He is a nihilist!' 'What?' asked Nikolai Petrovich, while Pavel Petrovich lifted his knife in the air with a small piece of butter on the tip and remained motionless. 'He is a nihilist,' repeated Arkady. 'A nihilist,' said Nikolai Petrovich. 'That comes from the Latin nihil, nothing, as far as I can judge; the word must mean a man who... who recognizes nothing?' 'Say - who respects nothing,' interposed Pavel Petrovich and lowered his knife with the butter on it. 'Who regards everything from the critical point of view,' said Arkady. 'Isn't that exactly the same thing?' asked Pavel Petrovich. 'No, it's not the same thing. A nihilist is a person who does not bow down to any authority, who does not accept any principle on faith, however much that principle may be revered.' 'Well, and is that good?' asked Pavel Petrovich. 'That depends, uncle dear. For some it is good, for others very bad.' 'Indeed. Well, I see that's not in our line. We old-fashioned people think that without principles, taken as you say on faith, one can't take a step or even breathe. Vous avez change tout cela; may God grant you health and a general's rank, and we shall be content to look on and admire your... what was the name?' 'Nihilists,' said Arkady, pronouncing very distinctly. 'Yes, there used to be Hegelists and now there are nihilists. We shall see how you will manage to exist in the empty airless void; and now ring, please, brother Nikolai, it's time for me to drink my cocoa.'

80. Think deep and judge well

81. Common Logic is the Grammar of the higher Speech, that is, of Thought; it examines merely the relations of ideas to one another, the Mechanics of Thought, the pure Physiology of ideas. Now logical ideas stand related to one another, like words without thoughts. Logic occupies itself with the mere dead Body of the Science of Thinking. - Metaphysics, again, is the Dynamics of Thought; treats of the primary Powers of Thought; occupies itself with the mere Soul of the Science of Thinking. Metaphysical ideas stand related to one another, like thoughts without words. Men often wondered at the stubborn Incompletibility of these two Sciences; each followed its own business by itself; there was a want everywhere, nothing would suit rightly with either. From the very first, attempts were made to unite them, as everything about them indicated relationship; but every attempt failed; the one or the other Science still suffered in these attempts, and lost its essential character. We had to abide by metaphysical Logic, and logical Metaphysic, but neither of them was as it should be.

82. Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

83. In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination.

84. There is something worse than ignorance, and that's knowing what ain't so.

85. If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. (Sometimes quoted as newspapers.)

86. In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination.

87. There are three kinds of lies - Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

88. Her reasoning is full of tricks And butterfly suggestions, I know no point to which she sticks; She begs the simplest questions, And, when her premises are strong She always draws her inference wrong.

89. It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.

90. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

91. Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.

92. The characteristic of the present age is craving credulity.

93. All our beliefs are being challenged now, and rightfully so - they're stupid.

94. Ask whatever challenges dead and thoughtless beliefs.

95. It turns out that only twenty percent of human beings have a sense of irony - which means that eighty percent of the world takes everything at face value. I can't imagine anything worse than that. Okay, maybe I can, but imagine reading the morning newspaper and believing it all to be true on some level.

96. To some lawyers, all facts are created equal.

97. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

98. At this point the conservatives of all ages are thoroughly dishonest: they added lies.

99. Men who borrow their opinions can never repay their debts.

100. Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?