thinking - quotes

Émile(-Auguste) Chartier, 1868-1951

was a famous French philosopher, journalist, and pacifist

To think is to say no.

William James, 1842-1910

was an US Pragmatist philosopher and psychologist

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

Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1904-1991

was an US (Polish-born) Jewish author

We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions.

Thomas Merton, 1915-1968

was an US religious author, clergyman, and Trappist monk

Propaganda makes up our minds for us, but in such a way that it leaves us the sense of pride and satisfaction of men who have made up their own minds. And in the last analysis, propaganda achieves this effect because we want it to. This is one of the few real pleasures left to modern man: this illusion that he is thinking for himself when, in fact, someone else is doing his thinking for him.

Friedrich (Wilhelm) Nietzsche, 1844-1900

was a German philosopher

Everything that one thinks about a lot becomes problematic.

Friedrich (Wilhelm) Nietzsche, 1844-1900

was a German philosopher

That everybody is allowed to learn to read spoileth in the long run not only writing but thinking.

( “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, 1883 - 1885 )

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 1903-1950

was an English essayist, novelist, and satirist

If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.

Friedrich (Wilhelm) Nietzsche, 1844-1900

was a German philosopher

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

When all think alike, no one thinks very much.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873

was an English economist and philosopher

No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead. Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study, and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.

( “On Liberty”, 1859 )

Henry George, 1839-1897

was an US economist

Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

was an English poet and playwright

I hear, yet say not much, but think the more.