Socrates - Orwell Rolls in His Grave 2003 - Harold Pinter - James F Cooper - William Shakespeare - John Maynard Keynes - Laurence Sterne - Francis Bacon - Oscar Wilde - H L Mencken - Charles Manson - John Milton - Mark Twain - Carl Sagan - Paul Nurse - Hippocrates - Richard Harris - Thomas Jefferson - Walter Lippmann - Brennan Manning - Friedrich Nietzsche - Napoleon Bonaparte - Lisa Alther - Benjamin Franklin - H P Lovecraft - Fifty Dead Men Walking 2008 - The Dead Pool 1988 - George H W Bush - David Brock - Albert Einstein - John Stuart Mill - Bertrand Russell - Robert H Jackson - Elie Wiesel - Howard Zinn - Thomas Paine - Edward Bernays - Quentin Crisp - Lord Byson - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Noam Chomsky - Franklin D Roosevelt - Arnold H Glasow - Christopher Hitchens - McNair J - Irenaeus - Sinclaire Lewis - Terence - Joseph Goebbels - John Locke - Lord Reith - Mme de Stael - Persius - C Wright Mills - I Kings 18:21 - Ecclesiasticus 3:24 - Samuel Johnson - James Mackintosh - Penn & Teller TV - Adam Curtis TV - George Gallup - Peter Ackroyd - Henry John Temple - Bette Davis - Anne Frank - Douglas Adams - F Scott Fitzgerald - Plato - Francois de la Rochefoucauld - Anton Chekhov - Jane Austen - George Eliot - Richard Dawkins - Jacqueline Susann - Naomi Oreskes - Gore Vidal - Fargo 2017 - Jeff Booth - Patrick Leahy - Helen Keller -
It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one. Socrates
A CNN/Gallup poll conducted in March 2003 found that 51% of the American people thought Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the September 11th attack. Orwell Rolls in His Grave, Danny Schechter, 2003
I think it is the responsibility of a citizen of any country to say what he thinks. Harold Pinter
It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny. James F Cooper
Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already a’ be killed with your hard opinions. William Shakespeare, II Henry IV V v epilogue
A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary for the emancipation of the mind. John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-faire
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, which each second
Stood heir to th’ first. William Shakespeare, Othello I i 35-37, Iago
Opinion’s but a fool, that makes us scan
The outward habit for the inward man. William Shakespeare, Pericles IX l59-60, King Simonides
I have undertaken, you see, to write not only my life, but my opinions also; hoping and expecting that your knowledge of my character, and of what kind of a mortal I am, by the one, would give you a better relish for the other: As you proceed further with me, the slight acquaintance which is now beginning betwixt us, will grow into familiarity; and that, unless one of us is in fault, will terminate in friendship. Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen
It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion, as is unworthy of him: for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity. Francis Bacon, Of Superstition
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. Oscar Wilde
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde
There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend to be noticeably silly. H L Mencken
You can convince anyone of anything if you just push it at them 100% of the time. They may not believe it completely, but they will still use it to form opinions, especially if they have nothing else to draw on. Charles Manson
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. John Milton, Areopagitica, 1644
Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. Mark Twain
In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. Carl Sagan, address CSICOP conference 1987, cited J Poling ‘Do Science and the Bible Conflict?’
There is an overwhelming body of evidence that says we are warming our planet. But complexity allows for confusion and for alternative theories to develop. The only solution is to look at all the evidence as a whole. I think some extreme sceptics decide what to think first and then cherry-pick the data to support their case. We scientists have to acknowledge we now operate in a world where point of view, not peer review, hold sway. Professor Sir Paul Nurse, president Royal Society, Horizon: Science Under Attack, BBC 2011
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. Hippocrates
I think women should have lots of opinions but not allowed to express them. Richard Harris, interview The Parkinson Show, BBC 1973
Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry. Thomas Jefferson
When men are brought face to face with their opponents, forced to listen and learn and mend their ideas, they cease to be children and savages and begin to live like civilised men. Then only is freedom a reality, when men may voice their opinions because they must examine their opinions. Walter Lippmann
The common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely, and can be managed only by a specialized class whose personal interests reach beyond the locality. Walter Lippmann
Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself. Brennan Manning, The Wisdom of Tenderness
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind. Friedrich Nietzsche
It is easier to put up with unpleasantness from a man of one’s own way of thinking than from one who takes an entirely different point of view. Napoleon Bonaparte, letter 14th April 1807
I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic. Lisa Alther
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. Benjamin Franklin
I am disillusioned enough to know that no man’s opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he’s talking about. H P Lovecraft
You’re Irish, aren’t you? You were born with an opinion. Fifty Dead Men Walking 2008 starring Jim Sturgess & Ben Kingsley & Rose McGowan & Kevin Zegers & Kris Edlund & Natalie Press & Paschal Friel et al, her to him
Opinions are like arseholes – everybody has one. The Dead Pool 1988 starring Clint Eastwood & Liam Neeson & Patricia Clarkson & Evan C Kim & David Hunt & Michael Currie & Michael Goodwin & Jim Carrey & Ronnie Claire Edwards et al, director Buddy van Horn, Callaghan
I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them. George H W Bush
Opinion ... predicated on a raft of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies presented to the readers and viewers as fact. David Brock, The Republican Noise Machine