“But so engrained in the human heart is the desire to believe that some people really do know what they say they know, and can thus save them from the trouble of thinking for themselves, that in a short time would-be philosophers and faddists became more powerful than ever, and gradually led their countrymen to accept all those absurd views of life.”
Source: Erewhon (1872), Ch. 27
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Samuel Butler232
novelist 1835–1902Related quotes
Baltasar Gracián book The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Como los ignorantes no se conocen, tampoco buscan lo que les falta. Serían sabios algunos si no creyessen que lo son.
Maxim 176 (p. 100)
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
“To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.”
René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer
The Pathway of Life: Teaching Love and Wisdom (posthumous), Part I, International Book Publishing Company, New York, 1919, p. 68
Fred Rogers (1928–2003) American television personality
http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06012002.htm
Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player
Addressing fans at Three Rivers Stadium on Roberto Clemente Day, as quoted in "Bear-ly Speaking: World's Greatest Fans Thanked by Clemente" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15703260/ by Sam 'Bear' Bechtel, in The Indiana Gazette (July 25, 1970) <br class="br">Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1970</big>
Susan Stebbing (1885–1943) British philosopher
As quoted in Thinking to Some Purpose (1939), p. 63
Timothy Sprigge (1932–2007) British philosopher
Source: The Animal Welfare Movement and the Foundations of Ethics, pp. 94-95
Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) English theologian
Source: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.94