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“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci
“Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.” Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
“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
“In every respect the burthen is hard on those who attack an almost universal opinion.” John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women
“Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.” Henry Kissinger, White House Years
“Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“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
“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
“But facts always convince, and another man's opinion rarely convinces.” Anthony Trollope, Phineas Redux
“You have a right to your own opinion, just as I have to mine.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“Public opinion is always more tyrannical towards those who obviously fear it than towards those who feel indifferent to it.” Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
“Facts or opinions which are to pass through the hands of so many, to be misconceived by folly in one, and ignorance in another, can hardly have much truth left.” Jane Austen, Persuasion
“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“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
“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
“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
“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
“If people don’t like you, or they think you’re strange, then that’s their problem.” Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember
“You mean to say you hold your colleagues in such high esteem that you care what they think?” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.” William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“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
“whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong.” Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan
“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
“She had opinions about everything, and she wasn’t afraid to share them.” Nicholas Sparks, The Lucky One
“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
“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
“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.” Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“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
“He who judges of morality judges of honour; and he who judges of honour finds his law in opinion.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
“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

Related topics

listening reason others knowledge force silence respect reputation deception leadership power truth self experience change freedom diversity life men judgement

Related authors

Jane Austen (2)
Anne Frank (1)
Marcus Aurelius (3)
Nicholas Sparks (3)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Henry David Thoreau (1)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1)
Milan Kundera (1)
Michel de Montaigne (1)
Alexis de Tocqueville (2)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
John Stuart Mill (2)
Leonardo da Vinci (1)
William Shakespeare (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)
Henry Kissinger (1)
Ayn Rand (1)
John Locke (1)
Thomas Jefferson (1)
Frank Zappa (1)

Related sources

Meditations (3)
The Subjection of Women (2)
Democracy in America (2)
The Lucky One (2)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1)
Walden (1)
The Diary of a Young Girl (1)
The Conquest of Happiness (1)
The Social Contract (1)
Julius Caesar (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
Siddhartha (1)
The Real Frank Zappa Book (1)
White House Years (1)
Notes on the State of Virginia (1)