Elmer Davis Quotes

I strongly discourage any intellectuals, regardless of race, from speaking on matters for which they have limited or no expertise.

I dread specialists in power because they are specialists speaking outside of their special subject.

Definition: CONNOISSEUR, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else.

Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the boot-maker.

Our time is so specialised that we have people who know more and more or less and less.

It may be true, that men, who are mere mathematicians, have certain specific shortcomings, but that is not the fault of mathematics, for it is equally true of every other exclusive occupation.

I think any time you have too much education in one certain field, that can sometimes play against you.

Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist; two to one, he is a pedant.

There are good reasons why we don't want everyone to learn nuclear physics, medicine or how financial markets work. Our entire modern project has been about delegating power over us to skilled people who want to do the work and be rewarded accordingly.

There has been a subtler but very far-reaching change: the decline of respect for expertise. Americans once accepted with little question the views of experts… The experts tended to speak with one voice, and they enjoyed a reputation as neutral specialists and servants of the general welfare.

In our "age of the expert" the expert has his constituency — those who have a vested interest in commonly held opinions; elaborating and defining the consensus at a high level has, after all, made him an expert.

I think that a lot of people in all walks of life have the impression, of course, that, 'I specialize in something. I can't - I don't have the time to read other things. I'll just go to pure entertainment when I'm relaxing, and then I'll come back to my pure specialty.' That produces - that attitude produces idiot savants, unfortunately.

Social media has exacerbated a trend whereby people speak with complete authority on every subject, regardless of how informed they are.

The essence of the expert is that his field shall be very special and narrow: one of the ways in which he inspires confidence is to rigidly limit himself to the little toe; he would scarcely venture an off-the-record opinion on an infected little finger.

A specialist is a barbarian whose ignorance is not well-rounded.

Of course, our failures are a consequence of many factors, but possibly one of the most important is the fact that society operates on the theory that specialization is the key to success, not realizing that specialization precludes comprehensive thinking.

There are experts in little things but there are no experts in big things. There are experts in this fact and that fact but there are no moral experts.

Specialization is in fact only a fancy form of slavery wherein the 'expert' is fooled into accepting a slavery by making him feel that he in turn is a socially and culturally preferred-ergo, highly secure-lifelong position.

I think most Americans have an innate respect for the police and for their authority.

A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study.

No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot.

You must have the confidence to override people with more credentials than you whose cognition is impaired by incentive-caused bias or some similar psychological force that is obviously present. But there are also cases where you have to recognize that you have no wisdom to add - and that your best course is to trust some expert.

The public does not know what is possible. We do.

Naturally, it is with some temerity that the pupil speaks before the master, because you know more about the Common Market than anybody.

There's a lot of ignorance in our business... Everybody's an authority. To have your own vision is rewarding.