John Burroughs Quotes

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.

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.

My point is that perceptual bias can affect nut jobs and scientists alike. If we hold too rigidly to what we think we know, we ignore or avoid evidence of anything that might change our mind.

We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposed to rob us of their companionship.

The first step to believing something is true is wanting to believe it is true... or being afraid it is.

Most men, when they think they are thinking, are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

The longer you hold a belief, the less likely it is to be true.

The habit of an opinion often leads to the complete conviction of its truth, it hides the weaker parts of it, and makes us incapable of accepting the proofs against it.

Most people when they come after you for advice come to have their own opinions strengthened, not corrected.

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices.

People are going to believe what they want to believe.

When you're surrounded by people who share the same set of assumptions as you, you start to think that's reality.

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

I became a sceptic of one way of seeing the world. And I think it is what started me in my awareness that any worldview is superstitious.

If you have a pre-conceived idea of the world, you edit information. When it leads you down a certain road, you don't challenge your own beliefs.

Our pride is tied up in being right. We tend to favor data that confirm our beliefs, so we don't see alternatives. Too often, leaders practice defense routines that become self-reinforcing.

Men willingly believe what they wish.

All of us show bias when it comes to what information we take in. We typically focus on anything that agrees with the outcome we want.

Judgment traps you within the limitations of your comparisons. It inhibits freedom.

We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.

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

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.

People believe what they want to believe.