Marvin Minsky Quotes

Don't hold strong opinions about things you don't truly understand.

The English writer, Charles Lamb, said one day: "I hate that man." "But you don't know him." "Of course, I don't," said Lamb. "Do you think I could possibly hate a man I know?"

If someone is making a judgment when they don't have firsthand experience, it's intolerant. How can you make a judgment on something you don't know about?

Everyone is a reactionary about subjects he understands.

A political ideology is a very handy thing to have. It’s a real time saver because it tells you what you think about things you know nothing about.

It’s a lot easier to be critical of something if you don’t know much about it.

With regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them.

Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.

A great many people do not have the right to their own opinion because they don't know what they are talking about.

I have never found criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.

Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.

No matter what I say, honestly, people would only judge me the way they want to.

The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have.

The greatest sin is judgment without knowledge.

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.

People judged my work without to have listened to it.

People hate me for whatever reasons they come up with, or they hate me because their friends said they should. What can I do about it? What can I do about people who look at things the wrong way? At the end of the day it's like, 'You're wrong, I'm just a skateboarder. How can I help you?'

You know, people aren't always the most open-minded.

People make judgments about Scientology, but often they don't know what they're talking about.

I think most people are more susceptible to prejudice than to reason.

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.

People who think there is something pedestrian about journalism are just ignorant.