
1800s, First Inaugural Address (1801)
The First Part, Chapter 11, p. 50
Leviathan (1651)
1800s, First Inaugural Address (1801)
“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion.”
Source: Walden and Other Writings
“Schools praised diversity but were culturally the same. Different skin color, same opinions.”
Source: Short fiction, The Man Who Sold The Stars (2013), p. 318
"The Importance of Critical Discussion" in On the Barricades: Religion and Free Inquiry in Conflict (1989) by Robert Basil
Context: There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions. … It obviously endangers the freedom and the objectivity of our discussion if we attack a person instead of attacking an opinion or, more precisely, a theory.
“What is public opinion? It is private indolence.”
Source: An Essay on Aristocratic Radicalism (1889), p. 9
“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.