The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Category: knowledge
The power of accurate observation
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
The most dangerous man
The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are.
Secrecy
Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
The unaware
Those unaware are unaware of being unaware.
Educated into stupidity
Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.
Analyzing data
The plural of ‘anecdote’ is not ‘data.’
Science vs. opinion
If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.
Knowledge
When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge of it is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced it to the stage of science.