Challenging Ideas Quotes

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.

I don't like accepting things at face value.

You can't have 'yes' people around you.

Human beings never think for themselves; they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view.

I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.

I respect the audience's intelligence a lot, and that's why I don't try to go for the lowest common denominator.

One must dig deeply into opposing points of view in order to know whether your own position remains defensible. Iron sharpens iron.

It's important to have people who will question you occasionally.

'Homeland' is great at challenging our preconceived ideas.

If you're also in the arena and you're putting your ideas out and you're owning them and you're saying "I disagree with you about this and that, I think you've got this wrong" - then not only do I invite that, I freaking love that. I love that. I'm an academic. I'm hardwired for a good debate.

Ideological bigotry has become the norm on even our most prestigious campuses, where students can go for years without reading or hearing anything that challenges the left vision.

I'm opinionated, and I'm comfortable with confrontation. I'm very happy to say if I believe the opposite of what you think.

I'm about challenging people. Like, properly challenging them and their assumptions.

I think it's important to not just speak to like-minded people.

People don't have to agree with me. They can say, 'My gosh, I can't believe I'm listening to this guy. I can't disagree with him more.' But at least they know that I'm going to fight for things that I believe in. And I don't need to be in formal office to do that.

'NYT Opinion' offers our readers what we think are the most stimulating and interesting points of view you can find anywhere.

A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it.

If you have a therapist who agrees with your every word, then your brain isn't getting proper exercise.

Is the opposite of light entertainment meant to be dark and heavy?

How do you fight an idea—especially a new idea?

Books are, at their heart, dangerous. Yes, dangerous. Because they challenge us: our prejudices, our blind spots. They open us to new ideas, new ways of seeing. They make us hurt in all the right ways. They can push down the barricades of ‘them’ & widen the circle of ‘us.

I'm a tough manager. I question almost every assumption in what are hopefully pragmatic ways. The more you question, the more you learn and the more the person you are questioning learns.

You don't want a whole bunch of yes people around you.

The point of what I do is that it doesn't really matter what a book or a story is as long it moves you, informs you, challenges you, entertains you, or changes you.

Pretending that there are no choices to be made - reading only books, for example, which are cheery and safe and nice - is a prescription for disaster for the young.