Do not believe anything because you have heard it.  Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many.  Do not believe anything because it is written in your religious books.  Do not believe anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.  Do not believe in traditions because they've been handed down for many generations.  But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it

-Buddha