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.
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If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's read more
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight read more
If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.
We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers.
We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers.
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.
I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they're read more
I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they're good or there because they're lucky.
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.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, read more
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a wide-spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible
