Quote from: Life Topic

In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself credulous. The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.


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Author Bio


  • NameWilliam Kingdon Clifford
  • DescriptionEnglish mathematician and philosopher
  • BornMay 4, 1845
  • DiedMarch 3, 1879
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionMathematician; Philosopher
  • AwardsFellow Of The Royal Society