Elayne Boosler Quotes

In the hands of good writers, you have the opportunity to present both sides of an opinion equally and that you leave it to the audience to listen and then make up their own minds.

I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.

In debate, one randomly was assigned to one side or the other. This had at least one virtue - it made one see that there was more than one side to these complex issues.

Since I've written many of my books from a less-than-sympathetic viewpoint, I think that being able to see things from all sides is a useful talent.

You have to listen to the people who have a negative opinion as well as those who have positive opinion. Just to make sure that you are blending all these opinions in your mind before a decision is made.

I like disagreement because it forces both sides to question their own opinions and why they feel that way.

All we do is bring the debate from both sides, and let you as a viewer decide where you want to end up on the issue. That's very important. That's exactly what happens in 'Redemption Inc.'

It is not the least service which a college or university may render to those under its instruction, to habituate them to looking not only patiently but methodically on both sides, before adopting any conclusion upon controverted issues.

You could say that any book that takes a position is not fair, unless you keep saying, 'On the one hand, on the other...' and take a great deal of trouble to present both sides. That kind of journalism tends not to be very interesting.

Sometimes a song becomes rhetoric, but you have to really empathise. You also have to leave room for both sides of the argument: even if you're not telling the other side, you have to put that part in parentheses and make sure it's understood.

I have learned that if I only see and deeply appreciate one side of an argument, it means I am probably missing something important.

Read things to not just know what's going on, but see it from different varying viewpoints.

The man who sees both sides of a question is a man who sees absolutely nothing at all.

Above all, the ability to feel the force of an argument apart from the substance it deals with is the strongest weapon against prejudice.

Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.

My uncle was famous for his balanced point of view. At the time of which I am writing (when he was nearly seventy) it had become so balanced, that the act of balancing seemed rather automatic.One had only to offer him an opinion for him to balance it with a counter- opinion of exactly the same weight, as a grocer puts a pound weight against a pound of sugar.

A philosopher is a person who doesn't care which side his bread is buttered on; he knows he eats both sides anyway.

I'm keeping an open mind as always, because that's what you have to do.

It is only about things that do not interest one that one can give a really unbiased opinion, which is no doubt the reason why an unbiased opinion is always absolutely valueless.

There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing.

The polls undoubtedly help to decide what people think, but their most important long-term influence may be on how people think. The interrogative process is very distinctly weighted against the asking of an intelligent question or the recording of a thoughtful answer.

The only way to make the right decision is to find out which is the wrong decision, to examine that other path without fear, and only then decide.

I only form an opinion when I feel that I've done sufficient research and have sufficient access to information.

A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable.

One man's word is no man's word; we should quietly hear both sides.