Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

Consistency frequently launches its devotees into obstinacy.

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

The obstinate Man does not hold Opinions; they hold him.

Obstinacy in a bad cause is but constancy in a good.

Being stubborn can be a good thing. Being stubborn can be a bad thing. It just depends on how you use it.

I am pretty rigid. It’s very hard for me to compromise on things I feel strongly about.

Conviction without experience makes for harshness.

Orthodoxy is the diehard of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it forget.

You will always find a few people in any area that would like things done completely their way.

His has a rigidity, an arrogance, and an obstinacy that will cause him to foment a thousand unfortunate incidents.

Rule, and change nothing.

If a practical man digs himself into a hole, he stops digging; if an ideologue digs himself into a hole, he asks for a bigger shovel.

Dogma is less useful than cow dung. One can make whatever one likes out of it …

A wise man changes his mind, a fool never does.

Nobody wants to change.

The firmness that you displayed at the beginning of your reign will be for your quiet of the utmost importance. People must come to the opinion it is of no use intriguing, because when her mind is once made up, and she thinks a thing right, no earthly power will make her change.

There is a troublesome humor some men have, that if they may not lead, they will not follow; but had rather a thing were never done, than not done their own way, tho' other ways very desirable.

Pigheaded covers a multitude of virtues - as well as sins.

I think I'm very hardheaded.

Nothing outrages and disappoints an extremist more than compromise.

The most important thing is not to be dogmatic but flexible and consistent.

Obstinacy, sir, is certainly a great vice; and in the changeful state of political affairs it is frequently the cause of great mischief. It happens, however, very unfortunately, that almost the whole line of the great and masculine virtues--constancy, gravity, magnanimity, fortitude, fidelity, and firmness--are closely allied to this disagreeable quality, of which you have so just an abhorrence; and in their excess all these virtues very easily fall into it.

Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system, particularly in its application to the wants and errors of mankind.

A fanatic is one who sticks to his guns whether they're loaded or not.

I'm a purist.