Edwin Lawrence Godkin Quotes

I have met with some of them - very honest fellows, who, with all their stupidity, had a kind of intelligence and an upright good sense, which cannot be the characteristics of fools.

Ah! yes, I know: those who see me rarely trust my word: I must look too intelligent to keep it.

Your audience is a lot smarter than you realize.

The truth cannot be deceptive, and one who sees it cannot be deceived.

I think people got more common sense than people give 'em credit for.

You can't depend on the kind of folks people think they are - you've got to go by what they do. And I wouldn't give much for a man that some folks hadn't thought was a fool, in his time.

But clever people all make one mistake. They all think everyone else is stupid. And everyone isn't stupid. They just take a bit more time, that's all.

The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them.

You mustn't underestimate an audience's intelligence.

As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

There's something advantageous about having people underestimate your intellect, insomuch as a lot of things are revealed to you. They assume you don't know what you're talking about, then all of a sudden, you do. And the next thing you know, you have information you wouldn't normally have.

What a grand thing it is to be clever and have common sense.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

A deception that elevates us is dearer than a host of low truths.

Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.

I can't establish the veracity of what people say because only they know whether they are telling the truth. I can't look into your mind, can I?

Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn't amount to much.

Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death.

Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness.

There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool.

In Greece wise men speak and fools decide.

It is impossible that a man who is false to his friends and neighbors should be true to the public.