Karel Capek Quotes

It is easy to be tolerant of the principles of other people if you have none of your own.

Hear the other side.

Listen to other people tell their story, but don't believe them. You know that it's just a story that is only true for them, but listen because the communication can be wonderful.

It's important for people to, instead of automatically assuming everything the opposite side says is incorrect, you have to at least listen and see why someone might feel a certain way.

Those who know my stance on Israeli democracy also know that there is nothing more foreign to me than the rejection of a position different to my own.

I don't like controversies. I try to understand where a person comes from and where he is.

I was told to challenge every spiritual teacher, every world leader to utter the one sentence that no religion, no political party, and no nation on the face of the earth will dare utter: 'Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.

You can tell if someone is about social intercourse or just about browbeating somebody with their opinion. It's no fun arguing with a closed-minded person.

You should be able to voice your opinion and respect the voice of the other side. You should be willing to educate yourself and know what it is you're dealing with.

Quick condemnation of all that is not ours, of views with which we disagree, of ideas that do not attract us, is the sign of a narrow mind, of an uncultivated intelligence. Bigotry is always ignorant, and the wise boy, who will become the wise man, tries to understand and to see the truth in ideas with which he does not agree.

Compromise and tolerance are magic words. It took me 40 years to become philosophical.

We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't.

To have a liberal temperament is a kind of psychological boon, To be able to understand that someone you disagree with is not just a terrible creature but somebody with whom you disagree.

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

If I have my opinion about something, you have your opinion about something, we don't have to fight over it. And we can have a conversation. We can also disagree without being disagreeable, and we can just disagree, which is fine. It doesn't mean that I don't like you, or you don't like me. We just disagree.

The world I want to live in is a world where everybody is a bit more uncertain about their arguments and is a bit more open to other people's arguments. I think that we can engage ideas without ad hominem attacks.

The hardest thing in the world, I now know, is to hold in your head that it is okay to think that you are right, but not to think so necessarily because everyone who disagrees with you is wrong or stupid or duped or bad.

Moral teaching should always be used as a gift and not a cudgel.... It is important that we all be able to share our moral viewpoints without hurting each other. That is what is wrong with political discourse today.

…in every locality we should look beyond our noses; and at least say nothing on points where it is probable we shall disagree.

In order to practice dialogue, you need to be able to set aside your assumptions and try to listen more than you want to talk. It's not always politically correct to be able to do that, but it can give you a better sense of the reality.

If I disagree with someone, I let them have their say and move on. I don't want to be the one to lecture.

Dialogue can be held with everyone. It is not necessary to be like-minded to hold talks, but it is compulsory to be right-minded.

I am tolerant. I want to understand other points of view.

It's not appropriate to pass judgment when we specifically ask people to voice their opinions... even if you ask a question and agree with the answer.

It's always very important that you can completely disagree with someone, but it doesn't fundamentally mean that they are bad people.