#independent-thought

"Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste."

"[A] quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business."(The Record Lie)"

"To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's."

"When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons."

"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."

"Inevitably it follows that anyone with an independent mind must become 'one who resists or opposes an authority or established convention': a rebel. ...And if enough people come to agree with—and follow—the REBEL, we now have a DEVIL. Until, of course, still more people agree. And then, finally, we have ... GREATNESS."

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him will believeth in anything. - Hitchens 3:16"

"People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take."

"Thinking is hard work, which is why you don't see many people doing it."

"Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart."