quotations about opinion
The difference between opinions and convictions is this, men hold opinions, convictions hold men.
T. R. SLICER
attributed, Day's Collacon
He who would propagate an opinion must begin by making sure of his ground and holding it firmly. There is as little use in trying to breed from weak opinion as from other weak stock.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Notebooks
Our opinions are not our own.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Characteristics
Inquire not what are the opinions of any one; but inquire what is truth.
JOHN CALVIN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Let opinion be free as mountain air, and not be confined by demagogues or priests, by metaphysicians or dogmatists, by kings or popes, but based on reason and revelation.
LEVI CARROLL JUDSON
The Moral Probe: Or, One Hundred and Two Essays on the Nature of Men and Things
Many, if not most, good ideas die young -- mainly from neglect on the part of the parents, but sometimes from over-fondness. Once well started, an opinion had better be left to shift for itself.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Notebooks
Every war is the result of a difference of opinion. Maybe the biggest questions can only be answered by the greatest of conflicts.
J. C. DENTON
Deus Ex
I've had my say out, and I shall be the' easier for't all my life. There's no pleasure i' living, if you're to be corked up forever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.
GORE VIDAL
"Sex and the Law", Homage to Daniel Shays
I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
Spin Magazine, November 1992
In a Society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law.
GEORGE ORWELL
"Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels", Polemic, September/October 1946
No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.
CICERO
attributed, Day's Collacon
Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech in Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856
Unity of opinion is indeed a glorious and desirable thing, and its circle cannot be too strong and extended, if the centre be truth; but if the centre be error, the greater the circumference, the greater the evil.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Marriage and Morals
Do not despise the opinion of the world; you might as well say that you care not for the light of the sun because you can use a candle.
LEON GOZLAN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom
Opinion is a medium between knowledge and ignorance.
PLATO
attributed, Day's Collacon
In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Democracy in America
It is opinion that has exalted the appearance of virtue above virtue itself; hence the good opinion of men becomes not only useful but necessary to every one, to prevent him sinking below the common level. The ambitious man grasps at it as being necessary to his designs; the vain man sues for it as a testimony of his merit; the honest man demands it as his due; and most men consider it as necessary to their existence.
J. B. BECCARIA
attributed, Day's Collacon