Robert Anton Wilson Quotes

It seems that in the advanced stages of stupidity, a lack of ideas is compensated for by an excess of ideologies.

People who believe their unquestioned thoughts cannot see what is obvious and directly in front of their faces at all times, because they are invested in what they believe to be true. As long as they live out of an unquestioned mind, they must continue to argue with what they believe is happening rather than the reality of what is really happening.

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

What a people believes, even if untrue, has the same influence over their lives as if it were true.

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people... it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

We know that reality was a well known liberal bias.

You know, sometimes there's a difference between what is actually the truth and what you perceive to be the truth through your social conditioning.

Smart people sometimes get stupid, but stupid people never get smart.

People's belief in their own local reality-tunnels keep us all far stupider than we ought to be.

Narrow minds think nothing right that is above their own capacity.

When you're overwhelmed by your emotion, you listen less and you judge more. This is also the reality of the dogmatic mind.

Stupidity is a blockage in the ability to receive, integrate and transmit new signals.

Firmness in decision is often merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing out twice.

The mind that doggedly insists on prejudice often has not intelligence enough to change.

No matter how stark the reality, a human being fits it into a narrative that is palatable.

Narrowness of mind is often the cause of obstinacy; we do not easily believe beyond what we see.

To the extent that language forces experiences into categories it is a screen between reality and the human being. In a word, we pay for its benefits... Therefore, while using language, as we must of necessity, we should be aware of its shortcomings.

Who’s to say that it takes something like a drug to mess with your perception of reality? How did Hitler deceive a nation? How can one group of people look at the world and see one thing, and another see something completely different? One sees a town, another sees a desert. One sees beauty, another sees chaos.” The skin of this world,” he said quietly.

My sense of reality and logic is different from most people's.

The fact is that people would rather cling when they're afraid of something to a priori beliefs than rather open their minds about it.

Smallness of mind is the cause of stubbornness, and we do not credit readily what is beyond our view.

People who confuse what they wish were true with what is really true create distorted pictures of reality that make it impossible for them to make the best choices.

The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.

For centuries the word 'nature' has been used to bolster prejudices or to express, not reality, but a state of affairs that the user would wish to see.

Most of us are only willing to call 5% of our present information into question any one point.