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?

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who holds a low opinion of himself

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who holds a low opinion of himself

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

The feeble tremble before opinion, the foolish defy it, the wise judge it, and the skillful direct it.

The feeble tremble before opinion, the foolish defy it, the wise judge it, and the skillful direct it.

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.

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.

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said read more

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion