The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.

The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.

A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion

A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change read more

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, read more

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 wide-spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as read more

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion

Men commonly think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and imbibed opinions, but generally act according to read more

Men commonly think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and imbibed opinions, but generally act according to custom

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.