Julian Baggini Quotes

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.

The enemy of idealism is zealotry.

Claiming that you have got the truth wrapped up does breed violence and intolerance.

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

A mistake made by many people with great convictions is that they will let nothing stand in the way of their views, not even kindness.

The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.

It is not possible to unknow what you do know - the result of that is fanaticism.

As in political so in literary action a man wins friends for himself mostly by the passion of his prejudices and the consistent narrowness of his outlook.

If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic.

A Muslim fanatic and a Christian fanatic, a Jewish fanatic, a secular fanatic, an atheist fanatic, a communist fanatic - all of them are the same. The thinking that, 'If you don't think like me, that if you are not with me, then you are against me;' this is something to condemn.

When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.

Those who believe that they have absolute truth and the only moral system are destructive both to themselves and to those whom they try to convert.

The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world.

There are many who lust for the simple answers of doctrine or decree. They are on the left and right. They are not confined to a single part of the society. They are terrorists of the mind.

Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

The sin of certainty leaves no room for the rest of us.

I am dealing with fanaticism.

Nothing is so sure of itself as fanaticism.

No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has "The Truth".

Looking back at the worst times, it always seems that they were times in which there were people who believed with absolute faith and absolute dogmatism in something. And they were so serious in this matter that they insisted that the rest of the world agree with them. And then they would do things that were directly inconsistent with their own beliefs in order to maintain that what they said was true.

Extremists think "communication" means agreeing with them.

Fanaticism is the danger of the world, and always has been, and has done untold harm. I might almost say that I was fanatical against fanaticism.

Atheists are just as obnoxious if not more obnoxious than zealots.

Heartless zealotry, whether from the religious right or from the teachers' union on the left, is always troubling.

Bigotry is chronic dogmatism.