What matters is not the idea a man holds, but the depth at which he holds it. ~Ezra Pound
This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question. ~Orson Scott Card
Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment. ~Seneca
Not believing has a sickness which is believing a little. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast Table, 1872
He does not believe who does not live according to his belief. ~Thomas Fuller
The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
An old belief is like an old shoe. We so value its comfort that we fail to notice the hole in it. ~Robert Brault
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human, 1878
He who does not know how to believe, should not know. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Generally the theories we believe we call facts, and the facts we disbelieve we call theories. ~Felix Cohen
Few really believe. The most only believe that they believe or even make believe. ~John Lancaster Spalding
Men never do evil so thoroughly and cheerfully as when they do it for conscience sake. ~Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670
Not… what opinions are held, but… how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, [liberal] opinions are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment. ~Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays, 1950
When I believe in nothing I do not want to meet you when you believe in nothing. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Just because something is unbelievable does not mean you shouldn’t believe it. Put another way, some things are worth believing in whether they’re true or not. ~Jeb Dickerson, www.howtomatter.com
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. ~Laurens van der Post
Some things have to be believed to be seen. ~Ralph Hodgson, The Skylark and Other Poems
I believe that there is an explanation for everything, so, yes, I believe in miracles. ~Robert Brault
Martyrdom has always been a proof of the intensity, never the correctness, of a belief. ~Arthur Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought, 1932
It is easier to believe than to doubt. ~E.D. Martin, The Meaning of a Liberal Education
Man tends to treat all his opinions as principles. ~Herbert Agar
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. ~Bertrand Russell