Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time. It is therefore at least millions to one that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie. Thomas Paine
About This Quote

In this quote, Sir Francis Bacon, a great English philosopher and statesman, was analyzing the idea of a miracle. He asked whether it is more likely that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie. After all, we have never seen nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time.

And yet, in almost every case, the majority is right. Bacon's argument shows that when we look at something in nature or something in our daily lives that we consider to be completely impossible, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the impossibility.  Bacon was a man who lived during a time when there were no reliable sources for news and when many extraordinary events were happening every day around the world.

In comparison to today when we can easily find information from credible sources on any  subject from sports and entertainment to politics and religion and yet still experience some sort of unbelievable event or phenomena, Bacon did not live nearly long enough for him to experience such an event.

Source: The Age Of Reason

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  1. Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
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