A good listener tries to understand what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but read more

A good listener tries to understand what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but because he disagrees, he wants to know exactly what it is he is disagreeing with.

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

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?

We probably wouldn't worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.

We probably wouldn't worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.

One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, read more

One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny

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.

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.