George Eliot Quotes

I want people to think through issues. I'm just tired of blind alignment.

Know when to tune out, if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other peoples mistakes.

Each man must reach his own verdict, by weighing all the relevant evidence.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

If you're just a follower, you never know why you are doing something. Then you can't know if something is good or not. How would you know that what you thought is right, if you didn't think it?

Don't assume that because everyone believes a thing, that it is right or wrong. Reason things out for yourself. Work to get answers on your own. Understand why you believe things.

If one knows only what one is told, one does not know enough to be able to arrive at a well-balanced decision.

I know that we shall meet problems along the way, but I'd far rather see for myself what's going on in the world outside, than rely on newspapers, television, politicians and religious leaders to tell me what I should be thinking.

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.

Listen and watch the world around you. Don't be satisfied with answers others give you.

I listen with attention to the judgment of all men; but so far as I can remember, I have followed none but my own..

To prejudge other men's notions before we have looked into them is not to show the darkness but to put out our own eyes.

Criticism is fine and conversation is fine, but the person who's criticizing should know what they're saying and whom they're criticizing.

Any time you start judging with an overly critical eye rather than letting things just be, and following what you think is right, it's complicated to find balance.

Everyone has to be their own critic.

I just was raised always to question and be as informed as I can be.

Listen, then make up your own mind.

With the experience to judge, one need not pre-judge.

I intend to judge things for myself; to judge wrongly, I think, is more honorable than not to judge at all.

An open mind but not an empty head.

People will be able to judge for themselves.

Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge.

Consider the reasons which make us certain that we are right, but not the fact that we are certain. If you are not convinced, ignore our certainty. Don't be tempted to substitute our judgment for your own.

Forbear to spew out reason from your mind, but rather ponder everything with keen judgment; and if it seems true, own yourself vanquished, but, if it is false, gird up your loins to fight.