Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake.

The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.

The method of "postulating" what we want has many advantages; they are the same as the advantages of theft over honest toil.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

Politics is largely governed by sententious platitudes which are devoid of truth

I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where the evidence is inconclusive. This virtue, though it is underestimated by almost all adherents of any system of dogma, is to my mind of the very greatest social importance and far more likely to benefit the world than Christianity or any other system of organized beliefs.

Our beliefs are, however, often contrary to fact.