“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the loser’s tool.” -Socrates
“The propaganda machine is always looking for someone to hate.” -heard on National Public Radio, on Saturday, April 26, 2025
“He who can does; he who cannot teaches.” -George Bernard Shaw. I wonder if G. B. Shaw ever taught junior high or high school students. If he had, he might express a different opinion on teaching, and learn that it is hard work, not so well rewarded, but so worthwhile.
“He who can teach, teaches college; he who cannot teaches kids.” -an elaboration on Shaw’s quote above.
“People who can think, do not get things done, while people who get things done do not have time to think.” -a wise Norwegian author
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. They do not know what they do not know.” -H. L. Mencken
“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are [so] sure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Bertrand Russell, from his “Christian Ethics,” in his book, Marriage and Morals
“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider”. -Francis Bacon
In the above passage, Bacon underscores the importance of critical thinking, of pondering a passage, of hesitating to believe or act upon its words when first encountered.
“The people who know how to run the world are too busy cutting hair and driving taxi cabs.” -George Burns
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” -Charles Darwin
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” -H. L. Mencken
The Dunning-Kruger Effect: “A cognitive bias when unskilled people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices.
“Their incompetence robs them of their mental ability to realize it.
“If participants improved their skills in a tested area, their cognitive competence increased, and helped them to recognize the limitations of their abilities.
“As people gain more education and intelligence, they become more aware of their limitations. This awareness can be beneficial helping people avoid costly mistakes.”
A contractor once said of an experienced brick-layer, “he forgot more about brick-laying than most people ever learned.”
“A study in 2018 indicated that Americans who know little about politics and government are more likely than other Americans to overestimate their knowledge of those topics.”
“I know that up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom, we, too, should have rights.” -Dr. Seuss, from “Yertle the Turtle”