Believe Things

“It is bad enough that so many people believe things without any evidence. What is worse is that some people have no conception of evidence and regard facts as just someone else's opinion.”
--Thomas Sowell

Stay Ignorant

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
--George Orwell

Bamboozled

“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
--Carl Sagan

Thristed Truth

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduces them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”
--Gustave Le Bon

Facts and Opinions

“People have a right to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. Evidence must be located, not created, and opinions not backed by evidence cannot be given much weight.” --James W. Loewen

Stubbord Facts

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
--John Adams

No Evidence

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
--Christopher Hitchens

Value Evidence

“If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn’t value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?”
--Sam Harris

Savage Controvery

“The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.”
--Bertrand Russell