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Quotations about axiom
Note that not all quotations have been tagged, so the Search function may find additional quotations on this topic.
This is how humans are: We question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question.
When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
(Attributed)
Reply to a criticism of having changed his position on monetary policy. Quoted in Paul Samuelson, "The Keynes Centenary" The Economist, Vol. 287 (1983), but possibly apocryphal (see here).
Variants:
- "When events change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
- "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
- "When someone persuades me that I am wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?"
If the first button of one’s coat is wrongly buttoned, all the rest will be crooked.
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) Italian philosopher
(Attributed)
(Source)
Attributed in John Emerich & Edward Dalberg, The Cambridge Modern History (1904).
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. If you challenge your own, you won’t be so quick to accept the unchallenged assumptions of others. You’ll be a lot less likely to be caught up in bias or prejudice or be influenced by people who ask you to hand over your brains, your soul, or your money because they have everything all figured out for you.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alponso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, ch. 2 “Lingering at the Door” (2007)
(Source)
Originally given at the commencement speech at Connecticut College in May, 1980, where his daughter Eve was graduating.
Logic is an organized way of going wrong with confidence.
Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
“Kettering’s Law,” from address before American Society of Mechanical Engineers (c. 1944)
Quoted in Heinlein, The Number of the Beast (1980).
Alternately quoted:
- "Beware logic. Logic is an organized way to go wrong -- with confidence."
- Logic is an organized way to go wrong with confidence. We should all know by now that a logical course is not always the right one."
Sometimes referred to "Kettering's Observation."
Cited in Food Industries magazine, vol. 16 (1944), referring to the speech being "recent" (the magazine is also referred to as Food Engineering).
This site previously incorrectly attributed the quote to Iris Murdoch. That attribution seems to have been duplicated at some other sites, but was an error. I have also found citations to L. Walter Lundell and Karl Popper.
Another "Kettering's Law" that is referenced is: "Parts left out cost nothing, require no maintenance, and do not fail."
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 (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
(Attributed)
