“Vanity, indeed, is the very antidote to conceit; for while the former makes us all nerve to the opinion of others, the latter is perfectly satisfied with its opinion of itself.” OpinionSatisfiedFormerVanityLatterNervesAntidoteConceit Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“I am convinced that those societies (such as the Native American peoples) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate.” TwoGovernmentLawNationsEnjoyMoralOpinionClassGreaterDegreesMassConvincedFormerNativeLatterDividedSheepNative AmericanPublic OpinionGoverningPretence Author:Thomas Jefferson
“Although I knew enough Freud to believe that the sex urge was an important mainspring of life, it still seemed to me that any conscious manifestation of sex was necessarily ludicrous. Defecation and copulation were two activities which made a human being totally ridiculous. At least the former could be conducted in private, but the latter by definition demanded a partner. I discovered, though, that whenever I ventured this opinion, people took it as a joke.” PeopleBelieveHumansMadeStillsTwoImportantEnoughSexHuman BeingsOpinionActivityJokesConsciousDefinitionsPartnersRidiculousFormerManifestationLatterUrges Author:Paul Bowles
“If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.” IfsMindEnoughMightFallCommonOpinionToo MuchMiddleJudgmentWorthyManageFormerLatterRegionsJudgedModerationFavourVulgarEssaysUncommonBeing Judged Author:Michel de Montaigne
“A vice sanctioned by the general opinion is merely a vice. The evil terminates in itself. A vice condemned by the general opinion produces a pernicious effect on the whole character. The former is a local malady; the latter, constitutional taint. When the reputation of the offender is lost, he too often flings the remainder of his virtue after it in despair.” WholeCharacterEvilLostOpinionVirtueEffectsProduceDespairVicesLocalsReputationFormerLatterFlingPerniciousOffendersMalady Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
“The sad thing about our society is that women are put in one of two categories. You're either in the beautiful category and you're seen as sexy and beautiful, or some version of that, or you're put into another category... The latter category affords women the opportunity to be smart, funny, independent, mean, strong, intelligent and opinionated. We take them seriously as politicians, if they fit into that latter category. We respect their opinions more and give them higher expectations. That latter category is what allows female actors to be characters.” IfsGivingMeanTwoCharacterBeautifulActorsOpportunityStrongOpinionHigherPoliticianFitSmartExpectationsFemaleIntelligentIndependentSexyVersionsLatterOur SocietyCategoriesBeing SmartOpinionatedSad Things Author:Amber Heard
“The knowledge of the individual citizen is of less value than the knowledge of science. The former is the opinion of individuals. It is merely subjective and is excluded from policies. The latter is objective - defined by science and promulgated by expert spokesmen. This objective knowledge is viewed as a commodity which can be refined... and fed into a process, now called decision-making. This new mythology of governance by the manipulation of knowledge-stock inevitably erodes reliance on government by people.” PeopleGovernmentValuesIndividualProcessDecisionOpinionPolicyCitizensMythologyObjectivesDefinedFormerExpertsLatterDecision MakingFedsManipulationCommoditySubjectiveGovernanceRelianceRefinedExcludedErode Author:Ivan Illich
“The whole struggle of our Party (and of the working class movement in Europe generally) must be directed against opportunism. The latter is not a current of opinion, not a tendency; it (opportunism) has now become the organised tool of the bourgeoisie within the working class movement.” WholePartyOpinionClassStruggleMovementEuropeToolsCurrentsTendenciesLatterWorking ClassBourgeoisieOrganisedOpportunism Author:Vladimir Lenin