The New Gospel

The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss.

The human understanding, when any proposition has been once laid down … forces everything else to add fresh support and confirmation; and although most cogent and abundant instances may exist to the contrary, yet either does not observe or despises them, or gets rid of and rejects them by some distinction, with violent and injurious prejudice, rather than sacrifice the authority of its first conclusions.