To approve of another man’s opinions is to adopt those opinions, and to adopt them is to approve of them.
 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). copy citation

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Author Adam Smith
Source The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Topic opinion
Date 1759
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments

Context

“in all these cases, as soon as he comes from considering the object, to observe how I am affected by it, according as there is more or less disproportion between his sentiments and mine, I must incur a greater or less degree of his disapprobation: and upon all occasions his own sentiments are the standards and measures by which he judges of mine. To approve of another man’s opinions is to adopt those opinions, and to adopt them is to approve of them. If the same arguments which convince you convince me likewise, I necessarily approve of your conviction; and if they do not, I necessarily disapprove of it: neither can I possibly conceive that I should do the one without the other.” source