“Reason has built the modern world. It is a precious but also a fragile thing, which can be corroded by apparently harmless irrationality. We must favor verifiable evidence over private feeling. Otherwise we leave ourselves vulnerable to those who would obscure the truth.”
The Enemies of Reason, "Slaves to Superstition" [1.01], 13 August 2007, timecode 00:46:47ff
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
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Richard Dawkins322
English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author 1941Related quotes
“We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Sacred Theory of the Earth, quoted in Stephen Jay Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (1987), p. 32; ellipsis Gould's.
Ethan Allen (1738–1789) American general
Source: Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man (1784), Ch. XIII Section II - Of The Importance of the Exercise of Reason, and Practice of Morality, in order to the Happiness of Mankind
“Science replaces private prejudice with publicly verifiable evidence.”
Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author
The Enemies of Reason, "The Irrational Health Service"
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
August 7, 1909
India's Rebirth
Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist
Cf. Mark Twain: "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
2010s, Lying (2011)
Vitruvius book De architectura
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book VI, Chapter I, Sec. 1
Daniel Kahneman (1934) Israeli-American psychologist
Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence, The New York Times, 19 October 2011, 15 May 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/dont-blink-the-hazards-of-confidence.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0, <br class="br">"Don't Blink! The Hazards of Confidence" (2011)
“To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world.”
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer
"The Ball is Free to Roll"
Non-Fiction, Homage to QWERT YUIOP: Selected Journalism 1978-1985 (1986)
Source: Homage To Qwert Yuiop: Essays