Mark Twain Quotes

To think truly is noble and to be deceived is base.

The best defence against bullshit is vigilance. So if you smell something, say something.

I do not fear truth. I welcome it. But I wish all of my facts to be in their proper context.

An educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious—just dead wrong.

A man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

Some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route.

Being a skeptic just means being rational and empirical: thinking and seeing before believing.

I reject the notion of a post-truth area. I don't believe there is such a thing, and we shouldn't accept that.

I don't believe in conspiracy theories. I'm just a cold-blooded investigator.

Argument is not always truth.

I think the mistake that people make often times is you just lose touch of reality and you have to never be afraid to call someone's bullshit or call someone's bluff when something doesn't make sense.

It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.

I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know. How can we tell the difference between what we would like to be true and what is actually true? The answer is science.

It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to affirm whatever he pleases; but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, this is the mark and character of intelligence.

Science is a way of thinking that helps you not to fool yourself.

A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa.

I have one request: may I never use my reason against truth.

If you will take my advice you will think little of Socrates, and a great deal more of truth.

There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.

Reason alone cannot give you a whole steak, but it sure helps with identifying bologna.

If I simply refrain from making a judgment in cases where I do not perceive the truth with sufficient clarity and distinctness, then it is clear that I am behaving correctly and avoiding error.

It is a general rule that when the grain of truth cannot be found, men will swallow great helpings of falsehood.

The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

More frightening than any particular beliefs or policies is an utter lack of any sense of a need to test those beliefs and policies against hard evidence. Mistakes can be corrected by those who pay attention to facts, but dogmatism will not be corrected by those who are wedded to a vision.