Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes

But what if...what if you sincerely believed something was true, but you were dead wrong? What if you were so stubbornly sure that you were right, that you wouldn’t even consider the truth? Would the truth be silenced, or would it try to break through?

The more facts one introduces, the more truth one shows, the more determined the bigot is to cling to his belief.

It's so hard to fight against someone who is stuck in what they believe whether you agree with it or not.

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.

It is our knowledge - the things we are sure of - that makes the world go wrong and keeps us from seeing and learning.

It's hard for the majority of people to accept what they don't understand.

Belief is a very peculiar thing: we tend to put more store in a belief we like than a fact we hate.

When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.

A prejudice, unlike a simple misconception, is actively resistant to all evidence that would unseat it.

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness.

Prejudice locks the mind. Nothing can enter. Nothing true can escape.

The more you think you know, the more closed-minded you'll be.

Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions.

People like what is not true and they don't like what is true.

I don't understand it, and I don't like what I don't understand.

The greatest obstacle to discovering the truth is being convinced that you already know it.

Truth is the ricochet of a prejudice bouncing off a fact.

Early in his life Mr. [Ezra] Pound met with strong, continued, and unintelligent opposition. If people keep opposing you when you are right, you think them fools; and after a time, right or wrong, you think them fools simply because they oppose you. Similarly, you write true things or good things, and end by thinking things true or good simply because you write them

No evidence against a firmly-held belief, no matter how good or abundant it may be, will sway the true believer.

Too many theorists have a tendency to ignore facts that contradict their convictions.

Truth is too weak to combat prejudice.

People never want to be told anything they do not believe already.

The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.

When orators and auditors have the same prejudices, those prejudices run a great risk of being made to stand for incontestable truths.