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Quotes about thinking

552 quotes from 279 people

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The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988Revolt in 2100 (1953), postscript
Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn’t happen yesterday won’t happen tomorrow.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988Glory Road (1963)
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway1899–1961Marita in Ch. 11
- Happiness
- Intelligence
His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings.
Ernest Hemingway1899–1961A Moveable Feast (1964), Ch. 17, “Scott Fitzgerald”
- Genius
- Writing
By the time we awaken faintly to the awareness that we have been socially conditioned, we find ourselves so indoctrinated that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to break the old patterns.
Frank Herbert1920–1986“Science Fiction and a World in Crisis” in Science Fiction: Today and Tomorrow (1974) edited by Reginald Bretnor
- Change
Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.
Hermann Hesse1877–1962Siddhartha (1922)
- Talking
They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what’s more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.
Hermann Hesse1877–1962Steppenwolf (1927), PrefaceIn context
Mind control is the result of self-discipline and habit. You either control your mind or it controls you.
Napoleon Hill1883–1970Think and Grow Rich (1938)
You have absolute control over but one thing, and that is your thoughts.
Napoleon Hill1883–1970Think and Grow Rich (1938)
Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.
Christopher Hitchens1949–2011Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 (closing remarks)
- Wisdom
Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves: For they see their own wit at hand, and other mens at a distance.
Thomas Hobbes1588–1679Leviathan (1651), Part I: Of Man, Chapter XIIIIn context
- Intelligence
- Wisdom
If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935Often credited to Oliver Wendell Holmes
- America
Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than what we suspect of what we think.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935‘The Path of the Law’, address at Boston University School of Law (8 January 1897)
A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.1809–1894
A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.1809–1894Often credited to Oliver Wendell Holmes