“Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
Included as a quotation in The Great Quotations (1977) by George Seldes, p. 35, this appears to be a paraphrase of a summation of arguments of Bruno's speech in a debate at the College of Cambray (25 May 1588) which are not clearly presented as a direct translation of his statements:
: In an inspired speech Bruno, through the interpreter, Jean Hennequin, of Paris, declared the discovery of numberless worlds in the One Infinite Universe. Nothing was more deplorable, declared he, than the habit of blind belief, for of all other things it hinders the mind from recognizing such matters as are in themselves clear and open. It was proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people. However, he cautioned that they should not be influenced by the fervor of speech, but by the weight of his argument and the majesty of truth.
:* Coulson Turnbull in Life and Teachings of Giordano Bruno : Philosopher, Martyr, Mystic 1548 — 1600 (1913), p. 41
Disputed
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is…" by Giordano Bruno?
Giordano Bruno62
Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer 1548–1600Related quotes
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
Leo Tolstoy book A Confession
Source: A Confession
“The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors, Both Ancient and Modern (1891) edited by Tryon Edwards. p. 324
Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist
Letter to the Advocates of Woman’s Suffrage (1870).
1870s
“They thinking small, man, and this is a major, major deal.”
Ray Nagin (1956) politician, businessman
2005, Interview with New Orleans radio station WWL (2005)
Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian
From Her Books, I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight, RACISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS
Czeslaw Milosz book The Captive Mind
The Captive Mind (1953)
Context: Human material seems to have one major defect: it does not like to be considered merely as human material. It finds it hard to endure the feeling that it must resign itself to passive acceptance of changes introduced from above.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…
Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)
“In God's world there are no majorities, no minorities; one, on God's side, is a majority.”
Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator and lawyer
1850s, Lecture at Brooklyn (1859)