quotations about opinion
The courage of one's opinions is always a form of calculating cowardice in the eyes of the "other side."
MARCEL PROUST
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Swann's Way
Unity of opinion, abstractedly considered, is neither desirable, nor a good ... for men may be all agreed in error, and in that case unanimity is an evil.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Every war is the result of a difference of opinion. Maybe the biggest questions can only be answered by the greatest of conflicts.
J. C. DENTON
Deus Ex
He who would propagate an opinion must begin by making sure of his ground and holding it firmly. There is as little use in trying to breed from weak opinion as from other weak stock.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Notebooks
Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech in Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856
Many, if not most, good ideas die young -- mainly from neglect on the part of the parents, but sometimes from over-fondness. Once well started, an opinion had better be left to shift for itself.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Notebooks
Let opinion be free as mountain air, and not be confined by demagogues or priests, by metaphysicians or dogmatists, by kings or popes, but based on reason and revelation.
LEVI CARROLL JUDSON
The Moral Probe: Or, One Hundred and Two Essays on the Nature of Men and Things
I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
Spin Magazine, November 1992
Inquire not what are the opinions of any one; but inquire what is truth.
JOHN CALVIN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Unity of opinion is indeed a glorious and desirable thing, and its circle cannot be too strong and extended, if the centre be truth; but if the centre be error, the greater the circumference, the greater the evil.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
That queen of error, whom we call fancy and opinion, is the more deceitful because she does not deceive always; she would be the infallible rule of truth if she were the infallible rule of falsehood.
PASCAL
attributed, Day's Collacon
At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.
GORE VIDAL
"Sex and the Law", Homage to Daniel Shays
I've had my say out, and I shall be the' easier for't all my life. There's no pleasure i' living, if you're to be corked up forever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Life Thoughts
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Marriage and Morals
In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Democracy in America
People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.
ANNE FRANK
The Diary of a Young Girl
No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.
CICERO
attributed, Day's Collacon
Public opinion overflows eventually into national behaviour and national behaviour, as things are arranged at present, can make or mar the world. That is why private opinion, and private behaviour, and private conversation are so terrifyingly important.
JAN STRUTHER
"The Weather of the World", A Pocketful of Pebbles
Our opinions are not our own.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Characteristics