It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also read more

It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as read more

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

This is the test of your manhood: How much is there left in you after you have lost everything outside read more

This is the test of your manhood: How much is there left in you after you have lost everything outside of yourself?

I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them

I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them

Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only truth.

Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only truth.

One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed.

One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed.

As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to read more

As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a con-sensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom: a leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.