Gerald James Whitrow (1912–2000) British mathematician
Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988), p.22
“It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false.”
The American Mercury (May 1926)
1920s
Context: It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false. To admit that the false has any standing in court, that it ought to be handled gently because millions of morons cherish it and thousands of quacks make their livings propagating it—to admit this, as the more fatuous of the reconcilers of science and religion inevitably do, is to abandon a just cause to its enemies, cravenly and without excuse. It is, of course, quite true that there is a region in which science and religion do not conflict. That is the region of the unknowable.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not su…" by H.L. Mencken?
H.L. Mencken281
American journalist and writer 1880–1956Related quotes
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Prophet
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher
L’important, c’est que le sexe n’ait pas été seulement affaire de sensation et de plaisir, de loi ou d’interdiction, mais aussi de vrai et de faux.
Vol. I, p. 76
History of Sexuality (1976–1984)
“The natural tendency of the state is inflation.”
Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) American economist of the Austrian School, libertarian political theorist, and historian
The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar (1974) http://mises.org/story/1829.
“Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.”
John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel
Pt. I line 83-84.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
“The search for necessary truths, truths that are not only true, but they couldn’t have been false.”
Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) Philosopher
In the Veery journal interview in 1996, in reply to the question of "What is the most rewarding aspect of philosophy?" presented by Veery editor Steven Vita, later reprinted in 1997 in the Austin American-Statesman and then quoted from in The New York Times obituary entitled “Charles Hartshorne, Theologian, Is Dead; Proponent of an Activist God Was 103.”
“What is troubling us is the tendency to believe that the mind is like a little man within.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher
Remarks to John Wisdom, quoted in Zen and the Work of WIttgenstein by Paul Weinpaul in The Chicago Review Vol. 12, (1958), p. 70
Attributed from posthumous publications
