A few Goethe quotes
What is called superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive
layer of the psyche than skepticism.
-- to Reimer, December 12, 1806
----
It has often rightly been said that skepticism is superstition in reverse,
and this would seem to be pre-eminently an ailment of our age: A noble
deed must have its mainspring in selfishness, a heroic action in vanity; a
great poem is reduced to terms of feverish excitement; and what is even
stranger, the most significant phenomena are refused credence as long
as there is a shred of a possibility of maintaining a negative attitude.
-- On the Theory of Color. Historical Division. Roger Bacon. (1810); 40, 165-9.