A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word. Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a thread-ball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains on the thrower’s bag.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Even good opinions are worth very little unless we hold them in the broad, intelligent, and spacious way.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
Provided we look to and satisfy our consciences, no matter for opinion; let me deserve well though I hear ill.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
My play was a complete success. The audience was a failure.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
This imputation of inconsistency is one to which every sound politician and every honest thinker must sooner or later subject himself. The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our private opinion – what a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates his fate.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It is not for the blind to give an opinion on colors.
—Italian Proverb
A confident expectation that no argument will be adduced that will change our opinions is very different from a resolution that none ever shall. We may print but not stereotype our opinions.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
They look for a victim to chivy, and howl him down, and finally lynch him in a sheer storm of sexual frenzy which they honestly imagine to be moral indignation, patriotic passion or some equally allowable emotion, it may be an innocent Negro, a Jew like Leo Frank, a harmless half-witted German; a Christ-like idealist of the type of Debs, an enthusiastic reformer like Emma Goldman.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.
—Grace Hopper (1906–92) American Naval Officer, Mathematician
Opinions have vested interests just as men have.
—Samuel Butler
A man must know how to fly in the face of opinion; a woman to submit to it.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
That the voice of the common people is the voice of God, is as full of falsehood as of commonness.
—Arthur Warwick
The opinion prevailed among advanced minds that it was time that belief should be replaced increasingly by knowledge; belief that did not itself rest on knowledge was superstition, and as such had to be opposed.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The world will only, in the end, follow those who have despised as well as served it.
—Samuel Butler
Public opinion is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
First learn, and then form opinions.
—Hebrew Proverb
A man’s opinions are generally of much more value than his arguments.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
It is with true opinions which one has the courage to utter, as with pawns first advanced on the chessboard; they may be beaten, but they have inaugurated a game which must be won.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
It rarely adds anything to say, “In my opinion”—not even modesty. Naturally a sentence is only your opinion; and you are not the Pope.
—Paul Goodman (1911–72) American Novelist, Essayist
To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Other people’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.
—Les Brown
A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
Nothing so obstinately stands in the way of all sorts of progress as pride of opinion; while nothing is so foolish and baseless.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Opinions are made to be changed—or how is truth to be got at?
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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