Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.

Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.

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.

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

It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon; which raises the fear that it may read more

It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon; which raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody not to.

One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.

One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.

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.

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

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.