A Quote by Ralph Barton Perry

I prefer credulity to skepticism and cynicism for there is more promise in almost anything than in nothing at all.

Ralph Barton Perry

Quote Topics

Almost Almost Anything Anything Credulity Cynicism More Nothing Prefer Promise Skepticism Than

Quote Author

Ralph Barton Perry
American - Philosopher
July 3, 1876 - January 22, 1957

People confuse the word cynicism with the word skepticism. One is “you’re not gonna pay attention to anything, think everything’s screwed up, nothing’s ever gonna work out right”, that’s cynicism. But skepticism is, “you’re presented with evidence and you do your best to draw conclusions based on that”. So, as the saying goes, Bill Nye, do you believe in ghosts? No. However, I would love to see one. Bring it on. I’m open minded to the idea, but the more I look into it in a skeptical frame of thinking, the less likely it seems.

Bill Nye

Radical skepticism is no more critical than is credulity.

Craig A. Evans

Cynicism and skepticism are the crudest form of quasi-intellectualism... Let the cynic become cynical of his cynicism and the skeptic skeptical of his skepticism and join the battle.

R. C. Sproul

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference.

Joe Biden

Nothing more strikingly betrays the credulity of mankind than medicine. Quackery is a thing universal, and universally successful. In this case it becomes literally true that no imposition is too great for the credulity of men.

Henry David Thoreau

Skepticism rather than credulity is the highest principle that the human intellect can use to ennoble our existence.

Christopher Hitchens

One of the chief obstacles to intelligence is credulity, and credulity could be enormously diminished by instructions as to the prevalent forms of mendacity. Credulity is a greater evil in the present day than it ever was before, because, owing to the growth of education, it is much easier than it used to be to spread misinformation, and, owing to democracy, the spread of misinformation is more important than in former times to the holders of power.

Bertrand Russell

In my opinion I think there's a difference between skepticism and cynicism; I tend to avoid cynicism because I feel it can err sometimes on the side of ignorance, by just disregarding something without actually seeing it or experiencing it first-hand.

Tyler Henry

When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless.

Bertrand Russell

There is nothing more awe-inspiring than a miracle except the credulity that can take it at par.

Mark Twain

Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history?

Dan Brown

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.

Thomas Jefferson

What is wrong with priests and popes is that instead of being apostles and saints, they are nothing but empirics who say I know instead of I am learning, and pray for credulity and inertia as wise men pray for skepticism and activity.