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Opinion quotes

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“People can tell you to shut up, but they can't keep you from having an opinion.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.” Thomas Carlyle, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History” - 1841

“whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong.” Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere's Fan” - 1893

“Don't mind anything any one tells you about any one else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses in stability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1840

“You have a right to your own opinion, just as I have to mine.” Agatha Christie, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” - 1920

“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” Leonardo da Vinci, “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci” - 1478 – 1519

“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.” Henry Kissinger, “White House Years” - 1979

“I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.” G. K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy” - 1908

“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.” Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” - 1854

“If people don’t like you, or they think you’re strange, then that’s their problem.” Nicholas Sparks, “A Walk to Remember” - 1999

“But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.” William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar” - 1623

“I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our...” Jonathan Swift, “Gulliver's Travels” - 1726

“In this world one is seldom reduced to make a selection between two alternatives. There are as many varieties of conduct and opinion as there are turns of feature between an aquiline nose and a flat one.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“Thy resolution may fluctuate on the wild and changeful billows of human opinion, but mine is anchored on the Rock of Ages.” Walter Scott, “Ivanhoe” - 1820

“In every respect the burthen is hard on those who attack an almost universal opinion.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“In America the majority raises very formidable barriers to the liberty of opinion: within these barriers an author may write whatever he pleases, but he will repent it if he ever step beyond them.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1835

“It is therefore worth while to search out the bounds between opinion and knowledge; and examine by what measures, in things whereof we have no certain knowledge, we ought to regulate our assent and moderate our persuasion.” John Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” - 1689

“Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“But facts always convince, and another man's opinion rarely convinces.” Anthony Trollope, “Phineas Redux” - 1874

“And there never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains: their most universal quality is diversity.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not. Remember that all is opinion.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“She had opinions about everything, and she wasn’t afraid to share them.” Nicholas Sparks, “The Lucky One” - 2008

“Based on her experience with men, most assumed that when you talked to them about a problem or dilemma, they were expected to offer an opinion, even when all you wanted was for them to listen.” Nicholas Sparks, “The Lucky One” - 2008

“The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They...” Margaret Thatcher, “The Path to Power” - 1995

“Most of all, he learned from it to listen, to pay close attention with a quiet heart, with a waiting, opened soul, without passion, without a wish, without judgement, without an opinion.” Hermann Hesse, “Siddhartha” - 1922

“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“It is not advisable . . . to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener.” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged” - 1957

“The more varied your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like.” Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book” - 1989

Related topics

knowledge listening force others men life trust music reason fear fate leadership uncertainty feelings subjectivity purpose freedom power experience silence

Related authors

Marcus Aurelius (3)
Nicholas Sparks (3)
Oscar Wilde (2)
John Stuart Mill (2)
Alexis de Tocqueville (2)
William Shakespeare (1)
Jane Austen (1)
Henry David Thoreau (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Ayn Rand (1)
Jonathan Swift (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)
Henry James (1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1)
Walter Scott (1)
John Locke (1)
Agatha Christie (1)
Leonardo da Vinci (1)
Thomas Jefferson (1)
Michel de Montaigne (1)

Related sources

Meditations (3)
The Subjection of Women (2)
Democracy in America (2)
The Lucky One (2)
Julius Caesar (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1)
Gulliver's Travels (1)
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1)
The Portrait of a Lady (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
Ivanhoe (1)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1)
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1)
Notes on the State of Virginia (1)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1)
Phineas Redux (1)
The Path to Power (1)