Paul Arden Quotes

Values are faithfully applied to the facts before us, while ideology overrides whatever facts call theory into question.

The important thing about groupthink is that it works not so much by censoring dissent as by making dissent seem somehow improbable.

Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see.

Everyone seems to be playing well within the boundaries of his usual rule set. I have yet to hear anyone say something that seemed likely to mitigate the idiocy of this age.

Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.

But it is no good using the tongs of reason to pull the Fundamentalists' chestnuts out of the fire of contradiction. Their real troubles lie elsewhere.

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong.

By the way, the point between rationality and what we would call the irrational is a very difficult point to establish. There's no specific line, as you know.

It's hard to find logic in things sometimes. That's why I can't analyze things too much, because it often doesn't make much sense.

My greatest surprise was that so much of what we think is common sense is just prejudice, and so much of what we think is scientific fact is about as scientific as the idea that the sun revolves around the earth.

In the last analysis sound judgment will prevail.

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.

A philosophical problem has the form: I don't know my way about.

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

Intelligence divorced from judgment produces nothing but foolishness.

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

When in doubt, look at what everyone else is doing.

Most of the time, when someone tells you something, and it makes sense, it just makes sense. And that's that. But sometimes it really doesn't make sense.

People with the same information often make the same decisions.

Common sense, proportionality, and judgment are the skills we must seek in those we choose to regulate our lives.

common sense is a very tricky instrument; it is as deceptive as it is indispensable.

It's not because my mind is made up that I don't want you to confuse me with any more facts. It's because my mind isn't made up. I already have more facts than I can cope with.

Usually, I'm pretty good about sorting through the options and then making decisions that I'm confident are the best decisions in that moment, given the information we have. But there are times where I think I wish I could have imagined a different level of insight.

It's perfectly natural to doubt your judgment about doubting your judgment.