Critical Thinking Quotes

"Nothing should be taken for granted, even if everybody believes it."

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

Bertrand Russell

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

H. L. Mencken

"Most people will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear."

Thucydides

"Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac."

George Orwell

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think."

Margaret Mead

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Voltaire

"The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads."

Ibn al-Haytham

“If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.”

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically."

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Carl Sagan

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character: that is the goal of true education.”

“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”

Richard Feynman

“Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.”

Bertrand Russell

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”

Margaret Mead