“Since the mass of mankind are too ignorant or too indolent to think seriously, if majorities are right it is by accident.”

— John Lancaster Spalding

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 130

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Since the mass of mankind are too ignorant or too indolent to think seriously, if majorities are right it is by acciden…" by John Lancaster Spalding?

John Lancaster Spalding 202

Catholic bishop 1840–1916

Related quotes

“Too little payment for a crime, too much for an accident.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book The Hallowed Hunt

Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Hallowed Hunt (2005), Chapter 1 (p. 6)

“It is the natural fault of young people to think too well of mankind [...].”

Georg Forster book A Voyage Round the World

Book I, ch. II, The Passage from Madeira to the Cape Verd Islands, and from thence to the Cape of Good Hope.
A Voyage Round the World (1777)

“My major hobby is teasing people who take themselves and the quality of their knowledge too seriously and those who don’t have the guts to sometimes say: I don’t know….”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960) Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader and risk analyst

Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Home Page http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/

“Too far-fetched to believe, too obvious to ignore.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

“You must save yourselves,” Rogol Domedonfors told them. “You have ignored the ancient wisdom, you have been too indolent to learn, you have sought easy complacence from religion, rather than facing manfully to the world.”

Jack Vance Dying Earth

Source: Dying Earth (1950-1984), The Dying Earth (1950), Chapter 5, "Ulan Dhor"

“In the Israeli democracy, we will continue to protect the rights of both the individual and the group, this is guaranteed. But the majority have rights too, and the majority rules, the vast majority of people want to preserve the Jewish character of our country for generations to come, this combination of individual rights and group rights are the definition of a Jewish and democratic state.”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

As quoted in Defending controversial Jewish state bill, Netanyahu says ‘majority rules’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/pm-defends-controversial-jewish-state-bill-says-majority-have-rights-too/ (12 July 2018) by Tamar Pileggi, The Times of Israel.
2010s, 2018