“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.”
Source: 1950s, Unpopular Essays (1950)
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Bertrand Russell562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970Related quotes
William Kingdon Clifford (1845–1879) English mathematician and philosopher
The Ethics of Belief (1877), The Duty of Inquiry
Context: The harm which is done by credulity in a man is not confined to the fostering of a credulous character in others, and consequent support of false beliefs. Habitual want of care about what I believe leads to habitual want of care in others about the truth of what is told to me. Men speak the truth of one another when each reveres the truth in his own mind and in the other's mind; but how shall my friend revere the truth in my mind when I myself am careless about it, when I believe thing because I want to believe them, and because they are comforting and pleasant? Will he not learn to cry, "Peace," to me, when there is no peace? By such a course I shall surround myself with a thick atmosphere of falsehood and fraud, and in that I must live. It may matter little to me, in my cloud-castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbours ready to deceive. The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat; he lives in the bosom of this his family, and it is no marvel if he should become even as they are.
William Kingdon Clifford (1845–1879) English mathematician and philosopher
The Ethics of Belief (1877), The Weight Of Authority
Jayne Mansfield (1933–1967) American actress, singer, model
On her second husband, Mickey Hargitay
Here They Are Jayne Mansfield (1992)
Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) American theologian
Audio lectures, Creationism and Psychology (n. d.)
Charles A. Reich book The Greening of America
Source: The Greening of America (1970), Chapter VII : "It's Just Like Living", p. 162
Irving Stone (1903–1989) American writer
Source: The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo