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Quotes about thinking

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God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates.
Herman Melville1819–1891Moby-Dick (1851), Chapter XLIVIn context
Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956
- Ideas
Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“The Divine Afflatus” in New York Evening Mail (16 November 1917)
- Ideas
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“Le Contrat Social”, in: Prejudices: Third Series (1922)
- Government
Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and DiscussionIn context
- Truth & Lies
Stupidity is much the same all the world over.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873The Subjection of Women (1869), Ch. 1
- Intelligence
No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and DiscussionIn context
Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.
A. A. Milne1882–1956Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), Chapter IIn context
- Comedy
“I have been Foolish and Deluded,” said he, “and I am a Bear of No Brain at All.”
A. A. Milne1882–1956Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), Chapter IIIIn context
- Comedy
- Intelligence
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.
John Milton1608–1674Paradise Lost (1667), i.254-255In context
The proof of a theory is in its reasoning, not in its sponsorship.
Ludwig von Mises1881–1973Theory of Money and Credit (1912)
- Ideas
Repression by brute force is always a confession of the inability to make use of the better weapons of the intellect — better because they alone give promise of final success.
Ludwig von Mises1881–1973Liberalism (1927), Ch. 1: The Foundations of Liberal Policy § 10: The Argument of Fascism
- Intelligence
- Power
In a battle between force and an idea, the latter always prevails.
Ludwig von Mises1881–1973Liberalism (1927), Ch. 1: The Foundations of Liberal Policy § 10. The Argument of Fascism
- Ideas
- Power
A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.
Molière1622–1673Les Femmes Savantes (1672), Act IV, sc. iii
- Education
- Intelligence
To me, when we talk about the world, we are talking about our ideas of the world. Our ideas of organisation, our different religions, our different economic systems, our ideas about it are the world.
Alan Mooreborn 1953De Abaitua interview (1998)
- Ideas