Ludwig von Mises Quotes

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

True science teaches, above all, to doubt

If any expert or scientist reaches a conclusion or espouses a view that departs from the ideologue’s world view, it is the expert that he examines carefully and not his ideology.

Do not believe just because you want to believe.

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

Marxism, Freudianism, global warming. These are proof - of which history offers so many examples - that people can be suckers on a grand scale. To their fanatical followers they are a substitute for religion. Global warming, in particular, is a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science.

Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice. Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human condition.

I do not want chemistry to degenerate into a religion; I do not want the chemist to believe in the existence of atoms as the Christian believes in the existence of Christ in the communion wafer.

The doubter is a true man of science: he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.

You should not believe a thing only because you like to believe it. We call that 'Diax's Rake.

Indeed, in view of its function, religion stands in greater need of a rational foundation of its ultimate principles than even the dogmas of science.

The enemy of science is not religion. Religion comes in endless shapes and forms... The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.

Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be avowed.

We don't regard any scientific theory as the absolute truth.

The interesting thing is always to see if you can find a fact that will change your mind about something, to test and see if you can.

I discourage passive skepticism, which is the armchair variety where people sit back and criticize without ever subjecting their theories or themselves to real field testing.

I oppose any belief that contradicts experimental evidence as determined by the methods of science. All beliefs not in such contradiction may be considered as faith. Whether faith in a particular belief is beneficial or not is another matter.

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance.

Science, we are repeatedly told, is the most reliable form of knowledge about the world because it is based on testable hypotheses. Religion, by contrast, is based on faith. The term 'doubting Thomas' well illustrates the difference.

Even if I stumble on to the absolute truth of any aspect of the universe, I will not realise my luck and instead will spend my life trying to find flaws in this understanding - such is the role of a scientist.

Science is the refusal to believe on the basis of hope.

People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know.

No religious position is loyally served by refusing to consider annoying theories which may well turn out to be facts.

Science is basically an inoculation against charlatans.

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.