Take no one's word for it.

Rejecting authority in regard to 'knowledge' is a necessary condition
of progress. Before the Enlightenment it was generally believed
that everything important that was knowable had already been discovered
and enshrined in authoritative sources, i.e. religious tomes. Some of
these 'books' did contain age old wisdoms, however they were
entrenched in dogmas and falsehoods. So much so, that some caustic
critics have referred to such 'books' as having been written by illiterate
goat herders. Enter the Enightenment
The Royal Society, (one of the earliest scientific academies)
was founded  at the advent of the Enlightenment in 1660.
The motto it took was 'Nullius in verba' which means
'Take no one's word for it.'