Quotes About Open-mindedness

The secret of how to live without resentment or embarrassment in a world in which I was different from everyone else. was to be indifferent to that difference.

I also discovered how much I could learn from listening to other people's stories—even people who at first blush didn't seem like the kind of people you could learn much of anything from

Curiosity takes ignorance seriously, and is confident enough to admit when it does not know. It is aware of not knowing, and it sets out to do something about it

Good listeners are no less rare or important than good communicators. Here, too, an unusual degree of confidence is the key—a capacity not to be thrown off course by, or buckle under the weight of, information that may deeply challenge certain settled assumptions. Good listeners are unfussy about the chaos which others may for a time create in their minds; they've been there before and know that everything can eventually be set back in its place. The

Good listeners are no less rare or important than good communicators. Here, too, an unusual degree of confidence is the key -- a capacity not to be thrown off course by, or buckle under the weight of, information that may deeply challenge certain settled assumptions. Good listeners are unfussy about the chaos which others may for a time create in their minds; they've been there before and know that everything can eventually be set back in its place.

to her all books were the same and, as with her subjects, she felt a duty to approach them without prejudice...Lauren Bacall, Winifred Holtby, Sylvia Plath - who were they? Only be reading could she find out.

Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.

Virtue loses its majesty when it morphs to dogma.

A few, less constrained by pride and more resilient, survived and had children. Their offspring grew up with no illusions about the supremacy of humankind or anykind. They matured and observed the world around them through different eyes. Roll the log. Give and take. Bend with the wind. Adapt, adapt, adapt …!

At Shimer we paid no attention to disciplinary boundaries; we blithely followed problems wherever they led. For better or for worse, I've never been able to shake this approach.

That means letting them read books that are too easy for them, or too hard for them. That means letting them read books that challenge them, or do nothing but entertain them. And yes, it means letting students read books with things in them we might disagree with and letting them make up their own minds about things, which is downright scary sometimes. But that's what good education is all about.

I know what it's like to make common cause with people who are in some ways alien to me; I know how such experiences can expand my understanding of the world; I know how they can force me to confront the narrowness of my vision and my tendency to simplistic thinking—sometimes to not thinking at all.

My normal, regrettable practice of minimal eye contact and uncharitable pigeonholing is suspended in favor of a real fascination with everything human.

We all get stuck in our belief systems, however sensible we think they are. To me, the New Age community is particularly guilty of not testing or challenging what it claims.

It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.

one should never assume anything

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

Kaži mi, ali savesno. Istinu. Ho?eš li, to jest, možeš li ti meni biti prijatelj bez obzira na ideje koje zastupam. Uvek, do kraja.

I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.

Then we decided that our failure to understand something does not necessarily mean it is without merit.

I never fail to be mystified by those who regard the revision of a former opinion as a sign of weakness.

Best not to anticipate too much ... it jiggles the possibilities.

Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

I move around a lot. Ive lived in a ton of different places - and only for a month or two at a time. I have a deep, rabid curiosity, so I like having a gypsy life.