Quotes and sayings for all occasions.
William Kingdon Clifford
Find important quotes and citations by the author William Kingdon Clifford.
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Quote 3603
Every time we let ourselves believe for unworthy reasons, we weaken our powers of self-control, of doubting, of judicially and fairly weighing evidence. -
Quote 3602
But if the belief has been accepted on insufficient evidence, the pleasure is a stolen one. -
Quote 3601
This sense of power is the highest and best of pleasures when the belief on which it is founded is a true belief, and has been fairly earned by investigation. -
Quote 3600
It is the sense of power attached to a sense of knowledge that makes men desirous of believing, and afraid of doubting. -
Quote 3599
To know all about anything is to know how to deal with it under all circumstances. -
Quote 3598
It leaves us bare and powerless where we thought that we were safe and strong. -
Quote 3597
It is true that this duty is a hard one, and the doubt which comes out of it is often a very bitter thing. -
Quote 3596
Whoso would deserve well of his fellows in this matter will guard the purity of his belief with a very fanaticism of jealous care, lest at any time it should rest on an unworthy object, and catch a stain which can never be wiped away. -
Quote 3578
But I cannot help doing this great wrong toward Man, that I make myself credulous. -
Quote 3577
In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. -
Quote 3576
This is why we ought not to do evil that good may come; for at any rate this great evil has come, that we have done evil and are made wicked thereby. -
Quote 3575
There is always a suggestion of some sort, either the end of a train of thought or a new sensation; and there is an action ensuing, either the movement of a muscle or set of muscles, or the fixing of attention upon something. -
Quote 3516
There it is worse than presumption to believe. -
Quote 3515
It is wrong in all cases to believe on insufficient evidence. -
Quote 3514
We may believe the statement of another person, when there is reasonable ground for supposing that he knows the matter of which he speaks, and that he is speaking the truth so far as he knows it. -
Quote 3513
We may believe what goes beyond our experience, only when it is inferred from that experience by the assumption that what we do not know is like what we know. -
Quote 3512
We have no reason to fear lest a habit of conscientious inquiry should paralyze the actions of our daily life. -
Quote 3511
It is our duty to act upon probabilities, although the evidence is not such as to justify present belief. -
Quote 3510
The beliefs about right and wrong which guide our actions in dealing with men in society, and the beliefs about physical nature which guide our actions in dealing with animate and inanimate bodies, these never suffer from investigation; they can take care of themselves. -
Quote 3509
So closely are our duties knit together, that whoso shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. -
Quote 3508
The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat. -
Quote 3156
It is wrong always, everywhere and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.More quotes on the topics: truth evidence errors superficiality wisdom reality
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