Quotes about opinion page 5
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: Introduction to 1961 edition of Sceptical Essays (1961)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works
Source: The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981), No. 52: To his son Christopher Tolkien (29 November, 1943)
“One day you'll discover that the opinions of worthless people are worthless.”
Piers Anthony book A Spell for Chameleon
Source: A Spell for Chameleon
John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian
Sermon 39 Catholic Spirit http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/39/ from the 1872 edition of Wesley's Complete Works - Thomas Jackson, editor <br class="br">Sermons on Several Occasions (1771)
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, Chapter 82 (1779). Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes http://oll.libertyfund.org/ToC/0054.php, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 1 http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/Jefferson0136/Works/0054-01_Bk.pdf, pp. 438–441. Comparison of Jefferson's proposed draft and the bill enacted http://web.archive.org/web/19990128135214/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7842/bill-act.htm <br class="br">1770s <br class="br">Variant: Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry... <br class="br">Source: The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom <br class="br">Context: Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet choose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislature and ruler, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; … that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; and therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust or emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religions opinion, is depriving him injudiciously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emolumerits, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminals who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, … and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.
Alex Garland (1970) English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Love in the Afternoon
Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels
Variant: I think I’m better than everyone else. An opinion that has been backed up with ample evidence.
Source: City of Fallen Angels
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
“In my opinion, too much attention to weather makes for instability of character.”
Elizabeth Goudge book The Little White Horse
Source: The Little White Horse
John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States
Letter to John Quincy Adams (16 June 1816). Adams Papers (microfilm), reel 432, Library of Congress. James H. Hutson (ed.), The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007, p. 20
1810s
Source: The Portable John Adams
“To escape from the world means that one's mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world.”
Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher
Source: A Primer Of Soto Zen
“The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.”
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
Source: The Essays: A Selection
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine
Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives
Philip Plait (1964) astronomer, skeptic
"The mainstreaming of crazy" (8 September 2009) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/08/the-mainstreaming-of-evil/ <br class="br">Bad Astronomy blog
“I make it a point never to argue with people for whose opinion I have no respect.”
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament
“We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for.”
Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist
Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon
Source: One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer
Guardian Camwar, in Ch. 4 : the cooper<!-- p. 42 -->
Source: The Visitor (2002)
Context: You asked for wisdom? Hear these words. Nothing limits intelligence more than ignorance; nothing fosters ignorance more than one's own opinions; nothing strengthens opinions more than refusing to look at reality.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Source: Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Source: Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
“A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
“A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present of his opinions.”
George Eliot book Middlemarch
Source: Middlemarch
“Everybody thinks their opinion is the right one. If they didn't, they would get a new one.”
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
“That human, he's a lesser waiting to happen, in my opinion--nothing less, nothing more”
Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist
Source: Lover Unleashed
John Stuart Mill book On Liberty
Source: On Liberty (1859), Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion
“Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon.”
Orson Scott Card book Children of the Mind
Source: Children of the Mind
“A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still”
Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People
“My good opinion once lost is lost forever.”
Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress
Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer
"Introductory Epistle : Argument of the Third Dialogue"
On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584)
Context: After it hath been seen how the obstinate and the ignorant of evil disposition are accustomed to dispute, it will further be shewn how disputes are wont to conclude; although others are so wary that without losing their composure, but with a sneer, a smile, a certain discreet malice, that which they have not succeeded in proving by argument — nor indeed can it be understood by themselves — nevertheless by these tricks of courteous disdain they pretend to have proven, endeavouring not only to conceal their own patently obvious ignorance but to cast it on to the back of their adversary. For they dispute not in order to find or even to seek Truth, but for victory, and to appear the more learned and strenuous upholders of a contrary opinion. Such persons should be avoided by all who have not a good breastplate of patience.
Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure
Variant translation:
It is very important to give advice to a man to help him mend his ways. It is a compassionate and important duty. However, it is extremely difficult to comprehend how this advice should be given. It is easy to recognise the good and bad points in others. Generally it is considered a kindness in helping people with things they hate or find difficult to say. However, one impracticality is that if people do not take in this advice they will think that there is nothing they should change. The same applies when we try to create shame in others by speaking badly of them. It seems outwardly that we are just complaining about them. One must get to know the person in question. Keep after him and get him to put his trust in you. Find out what interests he has. When you write to him or before you part company, you should express concrete examples of your own faults and get him to recall to mind whether or not he has the same problems. Also positively praise his qualities. It is important that he takes in your comments like a man thirsting for water. It is difficult to give such advice. We cannot easily correct our defects and weak points as they are dyed deeply within us. I have had bitter experience of this.
Hagakure (c. 1716)
Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Context: To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not. One must become close with him and make sure that he continually trusts one's word. Approaching subjects that are dear to him, seek the best way to speak and to be well understood.
Context: To give a person one's opinion and correct his faults is an important thing. It is compassionate and comes first in matters of service. But the way of doing this is extremely difficult. To discover the good and bad points of a person is an easy thing, and to give an opinion concerning them is easy, too. For the most part, people think that they are being kind by saying the things that others find distasteful or difficult to say. But if it is not received well, they think that there is nothing more to be done. This is completely worthless. It is the same as bringing shame to a person by slandering him. It is nothing more than getting it off one's chest.
To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not. One must become close with him and make sure that he continually trusts one's word. Approaching subjects that are dear to him, seek the best way to speak and to be well understood. Judge the occasion, and determine whether it is better by letter or at the time of leave-taking. Praise his good points and use every device to encourage him, perhaps by talking about one's own faults without touching on his, but so that they will occur to him. Have him receive this in the way that a man would drink water when his throat is dry, and it will be an opinion that will correct faults.
This is extremely difficult. If a person's fault is a habit of some years prior, by and large it won't be remedied. I have had this experience myself. To be intimate with all one's comrades, correcting each other's faults, and being of one mind to be of use to the master is the great compassion of a retainer. By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man?
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union
“Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature.”
Opinionis enim commenta delet dies, naturae iudicia confirmat.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
De Natura Deorum – On the Nature of the Gods (45 BC)
Variant: For time destroys the fictions of error and opinion, while it confirms the determinations of nature and of truth.
Book II, section 2; translation by Francis Brooks
Variant: Time destroys the figments of the imagination, while confirming the judgments of nature.
J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace
Source: Disgrace (1999), p. 3-4
Context: Although he devoted hours of each day to his new discipline, he finds its first premise, as enunciated in the Communications 101 handbook, preposterous: 'Human society has created language in order that we may communicate our thoughts, feelings, and intentions to each other.' His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origins of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul.
Wilkie Collins book The Woman in White
Source: Collins explaining what he calls the literary principal guiding him, in the preface of the second edition of The Woman in White. Also in Reality's Dark Light: The Sensational Wilkie Collins by Maria K. Bachman & Don Richard Cox [University of Tennessee Press, 2003, ISBN 1-572-33274-3] ( p. xiv https://books.google.com/books?id=_X8AlmIp0dwC&pg=PR14)
Sherry Argov (1977) American writer
Variant: Relationship Principle 10
You can tell how much someone respects you by how much he respects your opinion. If he doesn't respect your opinion, he won't respect you.
Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart
“Red hair, sir, in my opinion, is dangerous.”
P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author
Source: Very Good, Jeeves!
Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird
Pt. 1, ch. 11
Atticus Finch
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator
Source: Death by Black Hole - And Other Cosmic Quandaries
Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer
