Terry Pratchett Quotes

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think in fact they do so.

We always plan too much and always think too little. We resent a call to thinking and hate unfamiliar argument that does not tally with what we already believe or would like to believe.

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.

Once you arrive at an interpretation which you are comfortable in giving, no matter how specious it might be, and you are comfortable doing it, you stay there, you just stay there, and the facts are not going to change you.

Doubting everything and believing everything are two equally convenient solutions that guard us from having to think

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

People want reality that tells them how right they are all the time.

People today sometimes get uncomfortable with empirical claims that seem to clash with their political assumptions, often because they haven't given much thought to the connections.

Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.

Talking with people who agree with you is like jogging in a cul de sac.

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

You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, but You Can't Make Him Think.

Most people early achieve and later intensify a tendency to process new and disconfirming information so that any original conclusion remains intact. They become people of whom Philip Wylie observed: "You couldn't 't squeeze a dime between what they already know and what they will never learn."

No matter what it is, I think people want the answer they want, they don't want the truth.

We are all apt to think that an opinion that differs from our own is a prejudice.

But men love abstract reasoning and neat systematization so much that they think nothing of distorting the truth, closing their eyes and ears to contrary evidence to preserve their logical constructions.

Most of us seldom take the trouble to think. It is a troublesome and fatiguing process and often leads to uncomfortable conclusions. But crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.

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

Most people wish to be consoled, confirmed. They want their prejudices reinforced and their structured belief systems validated. After all, it hurts to think, and it's absolute agony to think twice.

Nothing pains some people more than having to think

Critiquing relieves you of the responsibility of doing integrative thinking.

Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.

There are many people out there who don't even think of themselves as being averse to facts, but the truth is, they are not getting it.

People don't want novelty - they want the reassurance of familiarity. No-one wants to be challenged, no-one wants to have their minds blown. There is an insatiable appetite for affirmation.