Ronald Reagan - Christopher Hitchens - Dan Brown - Jean DieuDonne - Lord Byron - Bertrand Russell - Rene Descartes - The Truth Behind the Moon Landings TV - Brian Welch - Leonardo da Vinci - Training Day 2001 - Impact 1963 - Horizon TV - William Shakespeare - I Thessalonians 5:21 - Marcello Truzzi - Franz Kafka - Daily Mirror - The New York Times - Proving God TV - Albert Einstein -
I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast. Ronald Reagan
What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. Christopher Hitchens
Faith – acceptance of which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
That happens all the time. You know. Well, people make errors or jump at conclusions. You see, it’s so painful to write down all the details of a proof that at times you say, All right, this is obvious, and you go on. Usually that’s where the error lies ... I have been guilty of that myself and I think everybody else had been at times. Professor Jean DieuDonne
I know that two and two make four – and should be glad to prove it too if I could – though I must say if by any sort of process I could convert two and two into five it would give me much greater pleasure. Lord Byron
Ever since Plato most philosophers have considered it part of their business to produce ‘proofs’ of immortality and the existence of God. They have found fault with the proofs of their predecessors – Saint Thomas rejected Saint Anselm’s proofs, and Kant rejected Descartes’ – but they have supplied new ones of their own. In order to make their proofs seem valid, they have had to falsify logic, to make mathematics mystical, and to pretend that deepseated prejudices were heaven-sent intuitions. Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy
The scientific process operates in two phases, the empirical and the statistical.
In the first phase, a scientist seeks uniform patterns in the universe based on empirical observations (‘empirical’ meaning based on data received by our senses, as this is, after all, the only means we have).
... The second phase of the scientific method ... a scientist must perform a series of tests that will either verify or refute his original hypothesis. This is where the statistical phase enters the picture.
After our scientist feels confident that he has obtained sufficient statistical evidence to support his theory ... he will disclose his findings to those around him, more specifically to the rest of the world’s scientific community.
Now it is the duty of the scientific community to review this person’s hypothesis by performing their own series of tests. This is necessary as the conclusions of one sole observer should never be accepted as adequate proof of anything.
... As this process continues, one by one, our ever-sceptical scientific community will conduct as many tests as it can think of before offering to support a theory. Only after a sufficient amount of supporting statistical data is obtained might the scientific community be willing to give credence to a theory. Rene Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Properly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking the Truth in the Sciences
Perhaps the final proof is this: compared to difficulties involved in sustaining such an elaborate scam, wouldn’t it be so much easier to build a rocket and fly to the moon? The Truth Behind the Moon Landings, Discovery 2003
In the end there is one set of evidence that is irrefutable: and that is that there are foot-prints, boot-prints, still on the lunar surface. Brian Welch
Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress. These rules are sufficient to enable you to know the true from the false – and this aids men to look only for things that are possible and with due moderation – and not to wrap yourself in ignorance, a thing which can have no good result, so that in despair you would give yourself up to melancholy. Leonardo da Vinci
It’s not what you know it’s what you can prove. Training Day 2001 starring Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke & Scott Glenn & Tom Berenger & Harris Yulin & Raymond Barry & Cliff Curtis & Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg & Macy Gray & Charlotte Ayanna & Eva Mendes et al, director Antoine Fuqua, Washington
There is nothing anybody can prove against me. Nothing. Impact 1963 starring Conrad Philips & George Pastell & Ballard Berkeley & Linda Marlowe & Richard Klee & John Rees & Anita West & Frank Pettitt et al, director Peter Maxwell, him to her opening scene
There’s something about the permanence of proof. It gives you a hundred per cent certainty. And that proof will be there for ever. This beach will disappear, crumble into sand, but that proof is indestructible. It sort of gives you a little bit of immortality. Like Euclid’s name will somehow live for ever. This proof: it’s the beauty of mathematics. Horizon: Alan and Marcus Go Forth and Multiply, Marcus du Sautoy, BBC 2009
Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ. William Shakespeare, Othello III iii 323
Prove all things. I Thessalonians 5:21
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Marcello Truzzi, attributions & variations
‘Impervious only to proof which one brings before the Court,’ said the painter ... ‘But it is quite a different matter with one’s efforts behind the scenes; that is, in the consulting-rooms, in the lobbies or, for example, in this studio.’ Franz Kafka, The Trial p135
Where’s the proof, Colin? Daily Mirror, re Colin Powell’s address to United Nations
Irrefutable and undeniable. The New York Times
cf.
There is no evidence that Mr Hussein tried to buy uranium in Africa. The New York Times article Joseph Wilson, What I Didn’t Find in Africa
Science v religion: at war for thousands of years. And yet today it may be the merging of faith and technology that brings us closer together to solving Life’s greatest mystery. Proving God, History 2020
‘As Science has got better and better, God has had less to do.’ ibid.
For centuries the Catholic Church waged war on Science believing its very existence could undermine the most sacred tenets of faith … Today there are signs of radical change. ibid.
It’s known as the Theory of the Fine-Tuned Universe: it holds that the exact conditions that hold for the creation of life are so precise that they could not randomly have appeared. ibid.
Archaeologists and relic hunters are also looking for tangible evidence of God on Earth. ibid.
In 960 B.C. the Ark was placed inside the first Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. This account in the Book of Kings is the last time the Ark is mentioned in the Bible. ibid.
No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong. Albert Einstein, attributed