Collective Wisdom Quotes

The individual is foolish; the multitude, for the moment is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the species is wise, and when time is given to it, as a species it always acts right.

Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.

My God is none other than the people. Only the popular masses are omniscient and omnipotent and almighty on earth. Therefore my lifetime motto is: "The people are my God.

The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't.

Wisdom is not the province of only one party.

There must be people who remember World War II and the Holocaust who can help us get out of this rut.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Everyone knows everything eventually.

Ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition.

It is the apparent plan of nature that as one human being, so also one generation, and also one nationality learn, learn incessantly, from and with the others, until all have comprehended the difficult lesson: No nationality has been solely designated by God as the chosen people of the earth; above all we must seek the truth and cultivate the garden of the common good. Hence no nationality of Europe may separate itself sharply, and foolishly say, "With us alone, with us dwells all wisdom.

The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have usually been wrong, must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong.

The people sometimes may be misled by the lying spirit in the mouths of their prophets, but never perverted; and in the end are always right.

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.

The 'wisdom of the crowds' is the most ridiculous statement I've heard in my life. Crowds are dumb.

What we do as a society is seek simple answers.

The case for democracy is that voters in the aggregate will make better decisions than a lone monarch or dictator would.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

One of the most valuable things any person can learn is the art of using the knowledge and experience of others.

Common sense is judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire nation, or the entire human race.

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.

A civilization is a social entity that manifests religious, political legal, and customary uniformity over an extended period, and which confers on its members the benefits of socially accumulated knowledge.

We're growing up together, the human race. And we've discovered a lot of things that we didn't know. We're finding our way. Instead of thinking about doomsday all the time, think about how beautiful the world is. We're all together, and together we're getting wiser.

I quite like the idea - just as an abstract idea - of 12 people's collective life experience and wisdom being this formidable thing. People say juries can be led - I think 12 people from different backgrounds, different races, different genders, different ages, it's hard to hoodwink.

We can be more clever than one, but not more clever than all.