"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day,
something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else
would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part
of unanimity.": Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) German
Dramatist
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"Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we
deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems
nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if
faced with an open mind.": Henry Miller (1891-1980)
American writer
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The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made.
It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs.
Self-conceit often regards it as a sign of weakness to admit that a belief
to which we have once committed ourselves is wrong. We get so identified
with an idea that it is literally a "pet" notion and we rise to its defense
and stop our eyes and ears to anything different: John Dewey |
Comments
I am wondering if it is not a little presumptuous to think that we are capable of thinking anything which at some point in history has not already been "thunk". It is all worth thinking about isn't it.