“Do not believe in anything

 simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything

simply because it is spoken

and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything

simply because it is found

written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything

merely on the authority of

your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions

because they have been

handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis,

when you find that anything

agrees with reason and is

conducive to the good and

benefit of one and all,

then accept it and live up to it.”

Sakya Muni Buddha
(The Anguttara Nikaya/

The "Further-factored" Discourses)