Mastodawn

The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying.

James Randi (1928-2020) Canadian-American stage magician ("The Amazing Randi") and scientific skeptic. [b. Randall James Hamilton Zwinge]
(Attributed)

More about this quote: wist.info/randi-james/82442/

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Randi, James - (Attributed) | WIST Quotations

The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying. Very widely quoted and attributed to Randi. I cannot, however, find any evidence showing Randi actually said this, though it is plausible.

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 22, 2025

A quotation from George Orwell

There are people who are convinced of the wickedness both of armies and of police forces, but who are nevertheless much more intolerant and inquisitorial in outlook than the normal person who believes that it is necessary to use violence in certain circumstances. They will not say to somebody else, “Do this, that and the other or you will go to prison”, but they will, if they can, get inside his brain and dictate his thoughts for him in the minutest particulars.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1947-03), “Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool,” Polemic Magazine, No. 7

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/orwell-george/78563/

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!May 29, 2025

A quotation from Eric Hoffer

When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths. Self-deception, credulity, and charlatanism are somehow linked together.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 83 (1955)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/hoffer-eric/16699/

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Apr 3, 2025

A quotation from Eric Hoffer

Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own — something rootless, incoherent, and incomplete. Whether it is our own meaningless self we are upholding or some doctrine devoid of evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 60 (1955)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/hoffer-eric/76046/

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Feb 17, 2025

A quotation from Addison

There is nothing in which Men more deceive themselves than in what the World calls Zeal. There are so many Passions which hide themselves under it, and so many Mischiefs arising from it, that some have gone so far as to say it would have been for the Benefit of Mankind if it had never been reckoned in the Catalogue of Virtues. It is certain, where it is once Laudable and Prudential, it is an hundred times Criminal and Erroneous; nor can it be otherwise, if we consider that it operates with equal Violence in all Religions, however opposite they may be to one another, and in all the Subdivisions of each Religion in particular.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-10-02), The Spectator, No. 185

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/addison-joseph/53093…

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