Lawrence Krauss - Thomas Jefferson - The Borgias TV - David Icke - Anthony Ashley Cooper - Frederick Douglass - Oscar Wilde - Farquhar Tupper - Charles Simmons - Miguel de Unamuno - Horace - William Shakespeare -
Ridicule is an important tool. Lawrence Krauss, cited The Unbelievers, 2013
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Adrian van der Kemp 30th July 1816
Do you know what is more poisonous than failure in war or politics? Ridicule. The Borgias s2e8: Truth and Lies, Rodrigo, Showtime 2012
One of my very greatest fears as a child was being ridiculed in public. And there it was coming true. As a television presenter I’d been respected. People come up to you in the street and shake your hand and talk to you in a respectful way. And suddenly, overnight, this was transformed into ‘Icke’s a nutter’. I couldn’t walk down any street in Britain without being laughed at. It was a nightmare. My children were devastated because their dad was a figure of ridicule. David Icke, recalling television interview with Terry Wogan
How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule? Anthony Ashley Cooper, A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm, 1708
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. Frederick Douglass
Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities. Oscar Wilde
Ridicule is a weak weapon when pointed at a strong mind; but common people are cowards and dread an empty laugh. Martin Farquhar Tupper
Ridicule is the first and last argument of a fool. Charles Simmons
The greatest height of heroism to which an individual, like a people, can attain is to know how to face ridicule. Miguel de Unamuno
Ridicule more often settles things more thoroughly and better than acrimony. Horace, Satires
But, alas! to make me
The fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow and moving finger at. William Shakespeare, Othello IV ii 52