Quotes About Open-mindedness

Perspective gets lost in moral certainties. Which only means that no one was ever burned at the stake by a doubter.

Science comits suicide when it adopts a creed.

I am too much of a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything.

Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed.

the only way to really understand the message is to stop trying to "understand" it.

I do not say think as I think, but think in my way. Fear no shadows, least of all in that great spectre of personal unhappiness which binds half the world to orthodoxy.

Science ... warns me to be careful how I adopt a view which jumps with my preconceptions, and to require stronger evidence for such belief than for one to which I was previously hostile. My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of crackpot than the stigma of conformity.

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.

In the world that lies ahead, religious pluralism is going to penetrate all cultures. How we live together with different points of view is going to become more and more important. I don't know whether we can make progress in such a project without a contemplative practice that alerts us to our own biases, prejudices, and self-centered programs for happiness, especially when they trample on other people's rights and needs.

The best way to get a good idea is to get a Lot of ideas. —LINUS PAULING

Where do you begin telling someone their world is not the only one? —Lee Maracle, Ravensong

Americans no longer distinguish the phrase "you're wrong" from the phrase "you're stupid." To disagree is to disrespect. To correct another is to insult. And to refuse to acknowledge all views as worthy of consideration, no matter how fantastic or inane they are, is to be closed-minded. The

Unable to see their own biases, most people will simply drive each other crazy arguing rather than accept answers that contradict what they already think about the subject. The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt summed it up neatly when he observed that when facts conflict with our values, "almost everyone finds a way to stick with their values and reject the evidence."15

He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason.

Mind thine own concerns. If he believes not as thou believest, it is a proof that thou believest not as he believes, and there is no earthly power can determine between you.

U zult me toch willen nageven dat ik altijd sterk heb benadrukt dat elk mens het recht heeft op een eigen mening, hoezeer die mening ook van de mijne afwijkt. Hij die een ander dit recht ontzegt, maakt zichzelf tot slaaf van zijn huidige mening, omdat hij zichzelf dan het recht ontneemt deze te veranderen.

we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice. And

Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to.

Belong to a religion? Doesn't bother me if you do, as long as it's not one that says to stop thinking and be loud about it.

If you don't love to read, you just haven't found the right book.

And I don't get down on nobody else for doing whatever else they do. To each his own.

I love watching film. I love watching stories. I watch the people in them... Even, sometimes, films that nobody else can watch - 'How could you look at that? It's lousy' - I can look at it and be totally into it.