Quotable Quotes: Skeptical Thinking

At the heart of the sub prime problems is the failure of far too many savvy investors to view the investments with less than a prudentially skeptical eye. Given the fact that approximately $400 trillion (face value) of OTC credit derivatives exist, just how deep and wide the problems are is the great unknown. Therefore, perhaps a few sage words on skeptical thinking might help.



“Skepticism is a discipline fit to purify the mind of prejudice and render it all the more apt, when the time comes, to believe and to act wisely.”
George Santayana

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches, and the like... But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard, which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm.”
Demosthenes

"Belief in the truth commences with the doubting of all those 'truths' we once believed."

Friedrich Nietzsche

“Precaution is better than cure.”
Cicero

Have a good weekend.