Marguerite Duras Quotes

He has a brilliant mind until he makes it up.

There is no man so blind as one who has made up his mind.

Narrowness of mind is often the cause of obstinacy; we do not easily believe beyond what we see.

Smallness of mind is the cause of stubbornness, and we do not credit readily what is beyond our view.

Firmness in decision is often merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing out twice.

It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.

Some people have a mandate that you can't change.

Once I make a decision, it's hard for me to listen to anybody else's opinion. I make a choice, and I'm like, 'This is it. I've thought long and hard about this, and this is exactly what needs to happen.'

Firmness or stiffness of the mind is not from adherence to truth, but submission to prejudice.

Stubbornness and stupidity are twins.

People who want a sane, static, measurable world take the first aspect of an event or person and stick to it, with an almost self-protective obstinacy, or by a natural limitation of their imaginations. They do not indulge in either deepening or magnifying.

It's no good trying to teach people who need to be taught.

At a certain age some people's minds close up; they live on their intellectual fat.

The unwilling mind is not a teachable mind.

An obstinate person does not hold opinions; they hold them.

People who talk incessantly about "change" are often dogmatically set in their ways. They want to change other people.

You can't teach an old dogma new tricks.

I don't know very much but what I do know I know better than anybody, and I don't want to argue about it…My mind is not a bed to be made and re-made.

The people who bind themselves to systems are those who are unable to encompass the whole truth and try to catch it by the tail; a system is like the tail of truth, but truth is like a lizard; it leaves its tail in your fingers and runs away knowing full well that it will grow a new one in a twinkling.

Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.

When people are least sure, they are often most dogmatic.

You can be dogmatic, like Donald Trump, and say don't tell me any of the facts, I have made up my mind, I don't want to hear anything, or you can say, look, trade can be good or it can be bad, depending on the rules.

The mind that doggedly insists on prejudice often has not intelligence enough to change.

Most men are unwilling to be taught.

The fact is that people would rather cling when they're afraid of something to a priori beliefs than rather open their minds about it.