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"That first week, I also went to Washington. That was really tough. I sympathize with those Washington figures who have to face 40 Times Washington bureau reporters. They ask hard questions and they're relentless. And they were quite suspicious and quite dubious about me."
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Exlpore more Skepticism quotes
"I'm very skeptical about the good intentions of Milosevic."
"I can't admit of an old boy of a God who takes walks in his garden with a cane in his hand, who lodges his friends in the belly of whales, dies uttering a cry, and rises again at the end of three days; things absurd in themselves, and completely opposed, moreover, to all physical laws, which prove to us, by the way, that priests have always wallowed in turpid ignorance, in which they would fain engulf the people with them."
"Doubt is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness."
"I don't do metaphysics. Neither do I have the luxury to talk about my beliefs."
"He was a sceptic, he was young, abstract, and therefore cruel."
"Gratitude is not a virtue I believe in, and to me it seems hypocritical to expect it from a child."
"The believer claims to know, not just that God exists, but that his most detailed wishes are not merely knowable but actually known. Since religion drew its first breath when the species lived in utter ignorance and considerable fear, I hope I may be forgiven for declining to believe that another human being can tell me what to do, in the most intimate details of my life and mind, and to further dictate these terms as if acting as proxy for a supernatural entity."
"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will provide plenty of time for silence."
"Even the self-assured truth-finders and self-proclaimed freedom-fighters reject Truth. As admirable as such endeavors may be, they still only really want it so long as it to some extent confirms what they had already presumed to be true."
Explore more quotes by Daniel Okrent
"Now I worry. If people ended up liking me, did I do the job wrong? So I decided they didn't end up liking me - they ended up being able to deal with me."
"I was probably being a little cocky, which I do when I feel that I don't know what I'm talking about."
"If you really hate George Bush, you don't want to read about his hobbies or that he's nice to his friends or that he's good company at dinner."
"The Times' new credibility committee report that was issued on Monday very specifically said they will be putting in a policy that reporters must get permission from their department heads to appear on television, which I think is a really good thing."
"I'm afraid we'll see reporters stop chasing quotes around the same time dogs stop chasing cars."
"I think Tierney is also more libertarian than he is conservative in the conventional sense."
"Gail didn't want me commenting on the opinion pages. I was hired by the news department and, despite the rabid assertions of the Times' enemies and detractors, the two really have nothing to do with each other."
"I think it's one of the Times' problems that they haven't made it clear to readers what various formats mean."
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