Quotes About Open-mindedness

Try taking a stand on just one leg. You need to see both sides.

No matter how much we know in any area there are always new things to learn and things we have previously learned that we need to be refreshed in.

It is amazing the quality of human beings that are in this world if we can just get past people not dressing the way we want them to dress.

Él no muestra prejuicios ni favoritismos con ciertas personas, y deberíamos seguir su ejemplo.

Censors don't want children exposed to ideas different from their own. If every individual with an agenda had his/her way, the shelves in the school library would be close to empty.

If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if you behave properly wit those holding divergent views from you or who criticize you, then you deserve to be credited with having an excellent character. (p. 99)

Like many young men in the South, he had trouble ruling out the possible. They are not like an immigrant's son in Passaic who desires to become a dentist and that is that. Southerners have trouble ruling out the possible. What happens to a... man to whom all things seem possible and every course of action open? Nothing of course.

Ruth tells me at least once a day that old people, or people getting old, tend to disengage, back away, turn inward, listen only to themselves, and get self-righteous and censorious. And they mustn't. (I mustn't.)

Intolerance respecting other people's religion is toleration itself in comparison with intolerance respecting other people's art.

Truth needs no label: it is neither Buddhist, Christian, Hindu nor Muslim. It is not the monopoly of anybody. Sectarian labels are a hindrance to the independent understanding of Truth, and they produce harmful prejudices in people's minds.

When, for instance, we meet a man, we do not look on him as a human being, but we put a label on him, such as English, French, German, American, or Jew, and regard him with all the prejudices associated with that label in our mind. Yet he may be completely free from those attributes which we have put on him.

To be attached to one thing (to a certain view) and to look down upon other things (views) as inferior—this the wise men call a fetter.'2

You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you. But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew.

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, Going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science.

No one system reveals the entire truth; at best, each organizes one point of view or perspective. We must consider many perspectives, and a philosopher should not imprison his thought in one system.

Ordinary folk prefer familiar tastes - they'd sooner eat the same things all the time - but a gourmet would sample a fried park bench just to know how it tastes.

What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.

Quién no ha tenido que aguantarse alguna vez a un "experto" que se toma muy en serio a sí mismo y piensa que sus conocimientos son la sapiencia encarnada? Una de las características de la inflexibilidad mental es la solemnidad, que se manifiesta, abierta o soterradamente, como una fobia a la alegría.

Las personas dogmáticas cuentan con un "yo totalitario" que rechaza tajantemente cualquier información distinta a la que ya tienen. Si solamente creo en mí y pienso que los demás están equivocados, la intransigencia se multiplica de manera exponencial.

Un pensamiento sin conciencia de sus limitaciones es un pensamiento incompleto. Mantener una actitud crítica saludable significa no aceptar ideas o doctrinas sin haberlas sometido antes a un análisis cuidadoso donde se pueda evaluar su verdad, su falsedad o las dudas que de ellas surgen. Las personas que no le temen a la crítica son inconformistas y poseen la dosis de incredulidad necesaria para acceder a todo tipo de información sin escandalizarse ni ofenderse.

Habrá algo más irracional que buscar la certeza absoluta? Si no dudaras nunca, estarías muy cerca del fundamentalismo ("La base de mis creencias es cierta por definición"), del dogmatismo ("Mi verdad es la única") y del oscurantismo ("El nuevo conocimiento es peligroso"). Vivirías en la zona más tenebrosa de la Edad Media mental. Recuerdo

La duda progresista (no retardataria) y bien manejada induce un sentido de modestia y es un buen remedio, si no el mejor, para la testarudez. No ser presuntuoso de las propias creencias, valores o ideología nos exime de la vanidad intelectual y el desgaste que implica querer siempre tener razón.

La mente flexible mantiene opiniones, tiene creencias y principios, pero está dispuesta al cambio y en pleno contacto con la realidad.