“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.”

Last update Feb. 5, 2026. History

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John Dewey62

American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer 1859–1952

Ralph Smart

“The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

“Most of us seldom take the trouble to think. It is a troublesome and fatiguing process and often leads to uncomfortable conclusions. But crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

The Unity of India : Collected Writings, 1937-1940 (1942), p. 94

“I had learnt from experience that many false opinions may be exchanged for true ones, without in the least altering the habits of mind of which false opinions are made.”

John Stuart Mill book Autobiography

Source: Autobiography (1873), Ch. 7: General View of the Remainder of My Life (p. 167)

“The best wedding is that upon which the least trouble and expense is bestowed.”

Thomas Hughes (priest) (1838–1911) British missionary

sayings of Muhammad on the subject of marriage, quoted from T.P. Hughes: Dictionary of Islam.
Dictionary of Islam

“That's weak! You don't know what caring is… Caring is love. And love fights! Love doesn't look for the path of least resistance. Hell's bells, Roderick, if love was that easy everyone would have it. You're a coward!”

Karen Marie Moning book To Tame a Highland Warrior

Source: To Tame a Highland Warrior

“If we can't alter the tide of events, at least we can be nearby with towels to mop up.”

Peter David (1956) American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games

Source: Q-In-Law

“We are like water, aren’t we? We can be fluid, flexible when we have to be. But strong and destructive, too.” And something else, I think to myself. Like water, we mostly follow the path of least resistance.”

Wally Lamb (1950) american novelist

Source: We Are Water

“Three things only do slaves require, food, work, and their gods, and of the three their gods must never be touched, else they grow troublesome.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Sixth Column

Source: Sixth Column (1949; originally serialized in 1941), Chapter 5 (p. 57)

“Science is based on experiment, on a willingness to challenge old dogma, on an openness to see the universe as it really is. Accordingly, science sometimes requires courage - at the very least the courage to question the conventional wisdom.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.”

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John Dewey62

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