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• It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
  -- Bertrand Russell...
• Quote #286 I was told that the Chinese said that they would would bury me by the Western lake and build a shrine to my memory.
  I have some slight regret that this did not happen, as I might have become a god, which would have been very _chic_ for an atheist....
• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd
  indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible....
• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd
  indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible....
• Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice -- and the alternative his nature offers him i
  ational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man -- by choice...
• Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me.
  We long for a caring Universe which will save us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest of doubts....
• The ideal reasoner, would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearing
  deduce from it not only the chain of events which led up to it but also the results which would follow from it....