James Surowiecki Quotes

We try to make sensible decisions with the facts in front of us. The problem with sensible decisions is that so is everyone else.

I've always been suspicious of collective truths.

In a society of ideological believers, nothing is more ridiculous than the individual who doubts and does not conform.

Reaching consensus in a group is often confused with finding the right answer.

Conformity is inevitable when folks huddle together in rebellion.

There are certain times when public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

The minority is sometimes right; the majority always wrong.

The crowd may be influenced easily, largely because it is a crowd.

Demands for solidarity can quickly turn into demands for groupthink, making it difficult to express nuance.

I always find myself very distrustful of intense crowd phenomena, and I think those are things that we should always try to question, especially critically.

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.

People may believe that there can be a society where dissent is not permitted, but which is nonetheless not a fear society because everyone agrees with one another and therefore no one wants to dissent.

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.

Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.

None of us is immune to suggestion. We are social beings and live in a social world.

There's kind of this real social pressure to not argue about things.

Many CEOs and leaders think that silence is indeed golden, that consensus is bliss. It is - sometimes. But more often what it signifies is that there are no respected processes for surfacing concerns and dissent.

I think better of our behaviour as individuals than I do when we see ourselves as members of a group. It's when people start forming groups that we have to watch our backs.

Unanimity of opinion is characteristic of savages and civilization only advances as more and more people have the right to call wrong what the majority calls right..

When everyone is unanimous, I wonder whether they are right…. George, at every meeting henceforth I want you to make the most cogent and articulate argument against the war and I will never stop you.

Better be wrong with the many than right with the few.

Group action -- yes; group thinking -- no.

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.

I always look at everyone when we're on the street and think, 'We're like sheep or ants.'

People with the same information often make the same decisions.