I think there are many great quotes, so it is difficult to pick a specific one. However, I think that one quote by Richard Feynman, the physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), stands out.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.
The quote means that people naturally tend to believe what they want to believe, making self-deception much easier than tricking others.
Ask yourself, what if one of your beliefs isn’t true. How likely is it that all of your beliefs are true? It is pretty much impossible that all of our beliefs are true. If we want to align our beliefs about what is true as much as possible, then we need to scrutinize our beliefs. If they are true, they will withstand the scrutiny. Yes, we need to understand the topic in question and the evidence. Once the facts and the science have given you a conclusive answer you have to accept it. Rejecting an answer that is based on evidence because you don’t like it is not critical thinking.
If you disagree with the world’s experts on a topic on which you lack expertise, then that is a good indicator that you are wrong. Respecting expertise is not the appeal to authority fallacy. It is just common sense. Denial or outright dismissal of a fact you don’t like is not critical thinking, that is denial.
I’ve been there. I grew up in a religious environment that did not accept evolution. I thought evolution was a hoax. However, I loved science, I was good at it, and I went to the natural science high school (naturvetenskap) in Sweden before studying physics at the University. I came to realize from my studies that the various claims, and the faulty evidence I had accepted, that Earth being 6,000 years old, etc., was nonsense, that the second law of thermodynamics did not contradict evolution, that evolution was not “just a theory” but a scientific fact as well. I did not come to that conclusion by arguing with people. I came to that conclusion by learning about the related science. It turned out that my creationist beliefs were not because I knew something others didn’t. I had just been bamboozled.
About 15-20 years ago I was very skeptical about climate change, global warming, climate disruption, whatever you call it. That was the result of me almost exclusively reading rightwing news sources and blogs. But I did not really know much about the science, and I was not even aware of the scientific consensus, and for ideological reasons I did not want global warming to be true.
However, I came across a few red flags, and I was curious, and I took a deep dive into the topic. After listening more carefully to the climate scientists and learning about the topic, I came to realize that global warming was real, and that the evidence that the current rapid warming was not natural but caused by us, chiefly because of our burning of fossil fuels, was for all practical purposed conclusive. I had been bamboozled again, because I trusted the wrong sources, and because of what I wanted to believe.
In think most of us do these kinds of mistakes. The many implausible conspiracy theories out there and all the anti-science are a result of that. But we need to be willing to scrutinize our beliefs and try to understand the topics. Sometimes that is difficult, but at least you can try not to be dismissive, or think you know better than the experts in a field where you lack expertise. And second guessing the motives of most scientists in a field is a trap. You will only fool yourself doing that. Intentionally seek the truth not confirmation of your belief.
I have a second blog, I call it superfactful. The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. That is important facts that are true with very high certainty and yet surprising, misunderstood, or disputed by many. This blog is educational and fun but challenging. Below I am listing a few of my blog posts that fall in the category of being disputed by many non-experts for various reasons. They might be challenging, perhaps even provocative facts.
- We Know That the Earth is Billions of Years Old
- Global Warming is Happening and is Caused by us
- The Bermuda Triangle the Big Non-Mystery
- Vaccines do not cause Autism
- Evolution is a fact
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics Does Not Contradict Evolution
- Jesus was not born on Christmas
- Nuclear Energy is Relatively Clean and Safe
To see a full list of all super facts click here
Leonberger Life 
This really is a great read. And very true – we do need to step back and look at things.
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