The crank cannot be refuted, only dismissed.
Dec 282017
Erring
Error is boundless.
Nor hope nor doubt,
Though both be groundless,
Will average out.
—Cunningham
Dec 192017
Whatever the fanatic permits himself is a duty: whatever he denies himself is a crime.
Dec 112017
A belief no fact can sink no fact can float.
Dec 072017
The good cause that leads to bad outcomes may not be all that good a cause.
Dec 062017
A very few rigorous social processes — scientific method, trial by jury — converge on truth reliably. Argument is not among them.
Dec 012017
Intelligence, n. The ability to make more elaborate errors, with more plausible justifications.
Nov 092017
Someone who understands politics is about as likely to set up as a pundit as someone who can predict the future is to set up as a psychic.
Nov 022017
We have all of our ideas at second hand, except the ones we think original, which we have at fourth or fifth.
Oct 312017
Primitive irrationality is to refuse to refer actions and sentiments to abstract principle; decadent irrationality is to insist on it.
Oct 302017
Psychology begins by classifying people according to their conduct; then grows scientific, and deduces conduct from the classifications.