Knute Rockne Quotes

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

There are two kinds of people in the world: the conscious and the unconscious dogmatists. I have always found that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic.

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

Men willingly believe what they wish.

There is, however, no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.

Most men … can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty — conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives

The habit of an opinion often leads to the complete conviction of its truth, it hides the weaker parts of it, and makes us incapable of accepting the proofs against it.

To assume that someone's views are invariably influenced or shaped by his or her partner is lazy. It is an intellectual crutch we grope for when we do not have an effective counter to someone's argument.

People are going to believe what they want to believe.

If you assume away most or all of the questions or difficulties, you can persuade yourself of just about anything.

All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.

Men freely believe that which they desire.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it. The moment we want to disbelieve anything we have previously believed we suddenly discover not only that there is a mass of evidence against it but that this evidence was starting us in the face all the time.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

My point is that perceptual bias can affect nut jobs and scientists alike. If we hold too rigidly to what we think we know, we ignore or avoid evidence of anything that might change our mind.

All of us show bias when it comes to what information we take in. We typically focus on anything that agrees with the outcome we want.

The first step to believing something is true is wanting to believe it is true... or being afraid it is.

How can you take seriously someone who likes to believe something because he finds it 'comforting'?

What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.

Men's arguments often prove nothing but their wishes.

The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question.

Some one has said that most of us don't think, we just occasionally rearrange our prejudices.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, since what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.