Leo Tolstoy Quotes

Most men … can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty — conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives

One sticks to an opinion because he prides himself on having come to it on his own, and another because he has taken great pains to learn it and is proud to have grasped it: and so both do so out of vanity.

If we take something to be the truth, we may cling to it so much that when the truth comes and knocks on our door, we won't want to let it in.

But what if...what if you sincerely believed something was true, but you were dead wrong? What if you were so stubbornly sure that you were right, that you wouldn’t even consider the truth? Would the truth be silenced, or would it try to break through?

Belief is a very peculiar thing: we tend to put more store in a belief we like than a fact we hate.

Don't fall into the trap of believing so deeply in your own ideology that you cannot even see the flaws in it.

The greatest obstacle to discovering the truth is being convinced that you already know it.

It's so hard to fight against someone who is stuck in what they believe whether you agree with it or not.

It's very difficult to lie to yourself about certain things. I'm not necessarily convinced about how information is gathered and I don't think the credence that's given to it is valid.

It's sometimes easier to reject strong evidence than to admit that we've been wrong, this is information about ourselves worth having.

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think in fact they do so.

When orators and auditors have the same prejudices, those prejudices run a great risk of being made to stand for incontestable truths.

The same is the case with those opinions of man to which he has been accustomed from his youth; he likes them, defends them, and shuns the opposite views.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it. The moment we want to disbelieve anything we have previously believed we suddenly discover not only that there is a mass of evidence against it but that this evidence was starting us in the face all the time.

All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

Some people choose not to believe the truth because it disagrees with what they fundamentally want.

The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause.

Everyone - male and female - is biased. But no one wants to admit it, so our brains search for examples that disprove the accusation.

The more you think you know, the more closed-minded you'll be.

In the long run my observations have convinced me that some men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some conclusion in their minds which, either because of its being their own or because of their having received it from some person who has their entire confidence, impresses them so deeply that one finds it impossible ever to get it out of their heads.

...nothing in the world is harder than convincing someone of an unfamiliar truth.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. It...makes you think that after all, your favorite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded....Naturally, therefore, common men hate a new idea, and are disposed more or less to ill-treat the original man who brings it.

If you believe something enough, it comes true eventually, and that's so true even with lies. If you tell yourself a lie, after a few years you'll think it's true.

The reason he [Jimmy Carter] says he never lies is because he thinks the truth originates with him.

When we have learned something, there's this thing called belief perseverance. Having learned something, we tend to cling to that belief, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.