“The aim of those who try to control thought is always the same. They find one single explanation of the world, one system of thought and action that will (they believe) cover everything; and then they try to impose that on all thinking people.”

— Gilbert Highet

Man's Unconquerable Mind (1954)

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Gilbert Highet 7

British academic 1906–1978

Walter Russell (1871–1963) American philosopher

The Man who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe

“People always try to find base motives behind every good action.”

Eugéne Ionesco (1909–1994) Romanian playwright

The Paris Review interview (1984)
Context: People always try to find base motives behind every good action. We are afraid of pure goodness and of pure evil.

“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you're not careful—those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.”

Brandon Sanderson book Warbreaker

Lightsong the Bold
Warbreaker (2009)

“Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts.”

Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author

“To think is to confine yourself to a single thought that one day stands still like a star in the world's sky.”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

Source: Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger

“Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another’s money. Idiots!”

Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Not yet placed by volume, chapter or section

“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought;
what is necessary is only to try to think them again.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Alles Gescheite ist schon gedacht worden.
Man muss nur versuchen, es noch einmal zu denken.
Bk. II, Observations in the Mindset of the Wanderer: Art, Ethics, Nature
Wilhelm Meister's Wanderjahre (Journeyman Years) (1821–1829)
Variant: All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.

“I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others.”

Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)
Context: I'd like to clarify my comments about religious people being weak-minded. I didn't mean all religious people. I don't have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That's why the founding fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves.
But I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn't accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That's what I find weak and destructive.

“The irony of the process of thought control: the more energy you put into trying to control your ideas and what you think about, the more your ideas end up controlling you.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

“Each individual imagines that he can exist, live, think, and act for himself, and believes that he himself is the thinking principle of his thoughts; whereas in truth he is but a single ray of the ONE universal and necessary Thought.”

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) German philosopher

Source: The Characteristics of the Present Age (1806), p. 21

“The aim of those who try to control thought is always the same. They find one single explanation of the world, one system of thought and action that will (they believe) cover everything; and then they try to impose that on all thinking people.”

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Gilbert Highet 7

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