Susan Cheever Quotes

By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.

What is important is that one utilizes one's intellect and not to be 100 percent sure about one's convictions. One should always leave room for doubt.

There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.

A ginooine statesman should be on his guard, if he must hev beliefs, not to b'lieve 'em too hard.

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

A candid spirit is mightier than the most persistent dogmatism.

Buddhism strongly discourages blind faith and fanaticism.

Incredulity is not wisdom.

One of the hardest tasks as a human being is knowing when to keep an open mind, and when not to.

A man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.

What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.

We want to be open-minded enough to accept radial new ideas when they occasionally come along, but we don't want to be so open-minded that our brains fall out.

Frankly, I’m suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue.

Incredulity is not wisdom, but the worst kind of folly. It is folly, because it causes ignorance and mistake, with all the consequents of these; and it is very bad, as being accompanied with disingenuity, obstinacy, rudeness, uncharitableness, and the like bad dispositions; from which credulity itself, the other extreme sort of folly, is exempt.

The sooner we can separate salvageable skeptics from self-righteous absolutists, the sooner we can move along.

If you want to stay in for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognize and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows he is right. For the dissenter, the skeptical mentality is at least as important as any armor of principle.

I'm very careful not to have ideas, because they're inaccurate.

Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers.

Hubris and science are incompatible.

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.

I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.

Only idiots refuse to change their minds.

His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even... knowledge, was foolproof.

To have a very strong opinion all the time is corrosive to a person's intellect. It becomes your default position.

Intellectuals are too sentimental for me.