Samantha Power Quotes

If you understand hallucination and illusion, you don't blindly follow any leader. You must know if the person is sane or insane, over the abyss.

It takes time and effort and preparation to think. Statesmen are far too busy making speeches to think.

Politicians are not the most reflective people in the world.

Put your choices in perspective.

When the intelligence is making a policymaker too happy, he ought to challenge it, and even if he doesn't, the intelligence briefer needs to launch a red team against his own conclusions to see if he can hold his ground.

Italians think with their heads.

Logic is a wonderful thing but doesn't always beat actual thought.

It is a fatal fault to reason whilst observing, though so necessary beforehand and so useful afterwards.

Finding bad reasons for what one believes for other bad reasons - that's philosophy.

Talk about rationality can get very confusing unless the things with which rationality deals are also included.

We can't avoid reasoning; we can only avoid doing it well.

Men first make up their minds (and the smaller the mind the sooner made up), and then seek for the reasons; and if they chance to stumble upon a good reason, of course they do not reject it. But though they are right, they are only right by chance.

The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.

When one does a thing, it appears good, otherwise one would not write it. Only later comes reflection, and one discards or accepts the thing. Time is the best censor, and patience a most excellent teacher.

A key thing in being a leader is you’ve got to pause yourself.

We do the same thing in our own lives, embracing information that supports what we already prefer or vindicates choices we previously made.After all, it feels better to justify our opinions rather than challenge them, to contemplate only the pros and relegate the cons to the back of our minds. However, if we want to make the most of choice, we have to be willing to make ourselves uncomfortable. The question is, if we are willing, how exactly do we go about fortifying ourselves against these biases?

I think what attracts me about the Electric Monk is that it's such an eloquent example of the futility of belief for belief's sake. I mean there's only any point in believing something if it's true.

Like all religions, Reason presents itself as the solution to the problems it has created

Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, "Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you."

Highly intelligent and well-informed people disagree on every political issue. Therefore, intelligence and knowledge are useless for making decisions, because if any of that stuff helped, then all the smart people would have the same opinions. So use your "gut instinct" to make voting choices. That is exactly like being clueless, but with the added advantage that you'll feel as if your random vote preserved democracy.

Before you ask more questions, think about whether you really want to know the answers.

We seem to have trouble with [critical thinking]. And our political system doesn't help.

There's simply no philosophizing without a love of wisdom, absolutely.

When you need to make a decision, don't let your emotions vote.