Quotes About Open-mindedness

Lawrence Meredith

It's hardly possible to overstate the value, in the present state of human improvement, of placing human beings in contact with other persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar. Such communication has always been... one of the primary sources of progress.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.

It is given to no human being to stereotype a set of truths, and walk safely by their guidance with his mind's eye closed.

If there are any persons who contest a received opinion, or who will do so if law or opinion will let them, let us thank them for it, open our minds to listen to them, and rejoice that there is some one to do for us what we otherwise ought, if we have any regard for either the certainty or the vitality of our convictions, to do with much greater labor for ourselves.

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.

If there are any persons who contest a received opinion, or who will do so if law or opinion will let them, let us thank them for it, open our minds to listen to them, and rejoice that there is some one to do for us what we otherwise ought, if we have any regard for either the certainty or the vitality of our convictions, to do with much greater labour for ourselves.

To call any proposition certain, while there is any one who would deny its certainty if permitted, but who is not permitted, is to assume that we ourselves, and those who agree with us, are the judges of certainty, and judges without hearing the other side.

When there are persons to be found, who form an exception to the apparent unanimity of the world on any subject, even if the world is in the right, it is always probable that dissentients have something worth hearing to say for themselves, and that truth would lose something by their silence.

Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. That is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bring them into real contact with his own mind. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them.

Their conclusion may be true, but it might be false for anything they know: they have never thrown themselves into the mental position of those who think differently from them, and considered what such persons may have to say; and consequently they do not, in any proper sense of the word, know the doctrine which they themselves profess.

To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty.

Existe la más grande diferencia entre presumir que una opinión es verdadera, porque oportunamente no ha sido refutada, y suponer que es verdadera a fin de no permitir su refutación.

only through diversity of opinion is there, in the existing state of human intellect, a chance of fair play to all sides of the truth.

Se c'è qualcuno che contesta un'opinione comunemente accettata, o che lo farebbe se solo la legge o l'opinione pubblica glielo consentissero, non abbiamo che da ringraziarlo, spalancare la nostra mente per ascoltarlo, rallegrarci che ci sia qualcuno pronto a fare per noi quel che ci costerebbe ben più fatica fare da soli, sempre che almeno un po' ci importi della certezza o della vitalità delle nostre convinzioni.

S'il y a des gens pour contester une opinion reçue ou pour désirer le faire si la loi ou l'opinion publique le leur permet, il faut les en remercier, ouvrir nos esprits à leurs paroles et nous réjouir qu'il y en ait qui fassent pour nous ce que nous devrions prendre davantage la peine de faire, si tant est que la certitude ou la vitalité de nos convictions nous importe.

However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that, however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.

Being a true scholar means considering all opinions NOT just the ones we agree with.

Let's not dismiss or attack individual ideas as being inadequate before we have had a chance to assess their positive effect as part of a whole solution.

Even good opinions are worth very little unless we hold them in the broad, intelligent, and spacious way.

Think and let think.

It seemed to me an odd view to take - rather as if one should protest that one didn't LIKE the idea of dying or being born. I preferred the notion of finding out first how it would be, and then doing what one could about the parts of it one disliked most.

I'm not bigoted enough to twist facts to suit what I've been taught.

I'm not bigoted enough to twist the facts to suit what I've been taught.