“Be eager to lend a patient ear to the opinions of others and think long and hard whether whoever finds fault has reason or not to censure you. And if the answer is yes, correct the fault. If no, give the impression that you have not heard him, or if he is a man whom you respect, explain to him why he is mistaken.” IfsThinkingMenGivingLongHardReasonAnswersOpinionHeardEarsFaultsCriticsPatientImpressionMistakenCensure Author:Leonardo da Vinci
“In living literature no person is a competent judge but of works written in his own language. I have expressed my opinion concerning a number of English writers; it is very possible that I may be mistaken, that my admiration and my censure may be equally misplaced, and that my conclusions may appear impertinent and ridiculous on the other side of the Channel.” MayPersonsLiteratureLanguageSidesNumbersOpinionWrittenJudgingRidiculousConclusionAdmirationMistakenCompetentCensureMisplaced Author:François-René de Chateaubriand
“[T]here seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously-after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important ... so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsYearsHas BeensImportantStatesReasonSeemsPoliticsUnitedLeaderOpinionMillionsUnited StatesMediaPolicyProveMouthsImportancePaidAffairAthleteIgnorantTreatedRationalDeclineMistakenEntertainersRational ThinkingProfessional AthleteForeign AffairsIdolizedDomestic Policy Author:Robert A. Heinlein
“If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven.” IfsKnowsBelieveWellsBookMatterChristianReligionHeavenOpinionFieldsMoralityEternalFoolishKingdomsResurrectionMistakenMaintainingEternal LifeKingdom Of Heaven Book:Genesi Ad Litteram Source: Genesi Ad Litteram
“If I am mistaken in my opinion that the human soul is immortal, I willingly err; nor would I have this pleasant error extorted from me; and if, as some minute philosophers suppose, death should deprive me of my being, I need not fear the raillery of those pretended philosophers when they are no more.” IfsNeedsShouldHumansSoulOpinionMinutesErrorsPhilosopherPleasantImmortalMistakenHuman Soul Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.” ThinkingMenMadeActionCausesConsciousnessOpinionIgnoranceDeterminedMistaken Book:Ethics Source: Ethics
“That the people have an original right to establish, for their future government, such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the basis, on which the whole American fabric has been erected.... The principles, therefore, so established, are deemed fundamental. And as the authority, from which they proceed, is supreme ... they are designed to be permanent.... The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written.” PeopleMayHas BeensWholeGovernmentOpinionPrinciplesWrittenLimitsAuthorityBasesConstitutionOriginalsFundamentalsForgottenSupremeDefinedPermanentFabricMistakenLegislature Author:John Marshall
“I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both.” MenCertainBeliefReligiousOpinionClassAdviceDivineOppositesMistakenDivine Will Book:Speeches & Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865 by Abraham Lincoln Source: Speeches & Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865 by Abraham Lincoln