Tesseract comments on Rationality Quotes July 2011 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Normal_Anomaly 03 July 2011 06:41AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (145)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: Tesseract 03 July 2011 04:19:04AM *  32 points [-]

It was a good answer that was made by one who when they showed him hanging in a temple a picture of those who had paid their vows as having escaped shipwreck, and would have him say whether he did not now acknowledge the power of the gods,—‘Aye,' asked he again, ‘but where are they painted that were drowned after their vows?' And such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happens much oftener, neglect and pass them by.

Francis Bacon

Comment author: hickeys 08 July 2011 11:07:19PM 1 point [-]

I've been looking for this quote for years since I read it in college and lost the book. Thanks for posting it.