A Quote by Joseph O'Connor

Beliefs: Those things we hold to be true despite evidence to the contrary.

Joseph O'Connor

Quote Topics

Be True Beliefs Contrary Despite Evidence Hold Things Those True

Quote Author

Joseph O'Connor
Irish - Novelist
Born: September 20, 1963

Most true believers, when faced with evidence that contradicts their beliefs, will hold on to those beliefs even more strongly.

Mark Thomas

Despite massive evidence to the contrary, libertarians hold tight to their romantic concept of capitalism, which, freed from government interference, serves the consumer with the best products at the lowest prices.

Paul Craig Roberts

It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation.

Hyman Rickover

I don't know what it is I'm doing. But it's not that. Despite all evidence to the contrary.

Edward Gorey

If you are among those who believe that the U.S. has the best healthcare system in the world - despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary - it's because my fellow spinmeisters and I succeeded brilliantly at what we were paid very well to do with your premium dollars.

Wendell Potter

Capitalism does not require us to hold a particular set of cognitive beliefs; it only requires that we act as if certain beliefs (about money, commodities etc) are true. The rituals are the beliefs, beliefs which, at the level of subjective self-description, may well be disavowed.

Mark Fisher

Convictions are not merely beliefs we hold; they are those beliefs that hold us in their grip.

Albert Mohler

Despite overwhelming and irrefutable evidence to the contrary, President Obama continues to believe that he can negotiate with Republicans.

Krystal Ball

Science has long been in the value business. Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, scientific validity is not the result of scientists abstaining from making value judgments; rather, scientific validity is the result of scientists making their best efforts to value principles of reasoning that link their beliefs to reality, through reliable chains of evidence and argument.

Sam Harris

Crime fiction confirms our belief, despite some evidence to the contrary, that we live in a rational, comprehensible, and moral universe.

P. D. James

Somehow the government has convinced the American people that using tear gas is perfectly harmless, despite stark evidence to the contrary.

Abby Martin

Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition.

Ricky Gervais

This is a moral universe, which means that, despite all the evidence that seems to be to the contrary, there is no way that evil and injustice and oppression and lies can have the last word.

Desmond Tutu

Among modern occupations, only cult leaders and TV weathermen rival the technological visionary's ability to retain credibility despite all evidence to the contrary.

Nathan Myhrvold

RELIGION: A set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by methods which are emotional or authoritarian, not intellectual.