Independent Thinking Quotes

• Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.

  Adrienne Rich

  Strong Women, Hard Work, Mean

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• Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Being Yourself, Heart

  "The World As I See It (Letter to a Friend of Peace)". Book by Albert Einstein, 1949.

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• Independent thinking is not encouraged in a professional Army. It is a form of mutiny. Obedience is the supreme virtue.

  David Lloyd George

  War, Independent, Army

  David Lloyd George “War Memoirs of David Lloyd George: 1918”

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• Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Spiritual, Atheist

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  Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!

  Bob Marley

  Inspirational, Music, Song

  "Redemption Song" (song) (1980)

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• Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Honesty, Fear, Independent

  graf Leo Tolstoy, Aylmer Maude (1934). “The Works of Leo Tolstoy ...: On life and essays on religion, tr. by Aylmer Maude”

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• When a man becomes a conformist, he is sacrificing the richness of independent thinking.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Independent, Sacrifice, Men

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• The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

  Alice Walker

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

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  If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.

  Katharine Hepburn

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Katharine Hepburn (1987). “The making of The African Queen, or, How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and almost lost my mind”, Alfred A. Knopf

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• None but ourselves can free our minds.

  Bob Marley

  Inspirational, Life, Music

  "Redemption Song" (song) (1980)

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• The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Lying, Independent, Thinking

  Christopher Hitchens (2009). “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, p.3, Basic Books

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  People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.

  Emma Goldman

  Independent, People, Independence

  Emma Goldman (1914). “The Social Significance of the Modern Drama”

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• Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

  Confucius

  Education, Wise, Clever

  Confucius (2014). “Confucian Analects”, p.9, Simon and Schuster

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• The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge.

  Albert Einstein

  Education, Independent, Thinking

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words”, p.29, Open Road Media

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• To think is to differ.

  Clarence Darrow

  Education, Teacher, Thinking

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• In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development.

  B. R. Ambedkar

  Independent, Thinking, Hinduism And Buddhism

  "Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination". Book by N.D. Arora, 2010.

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• Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead. When independent-thinking people (and here I do not include the corporate media) begin to rally under flags, when writers, painters, musicians, film makers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the service of the “Nation,” it’s time for all of us to sit up and worry.

  Arundhati Roy

  Art, Independent, Thinking

  "Come September". Arundhati Roy's Speech at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM, September 29, 2002.

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• Independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality.

  Stephen Covey

  Independent, Reality, Thinking

  Stephen R. Covey (2016). “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition”, p.59, Mango Media Inc.

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• Newspapers should be read for the study of facts. They should not be allowed to kill the habit of independent thinking.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Independent, Thinking, Facts

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• The thing about science-fiction fans and "Star Wars" fans is they're very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box, but they all have very strong ideas about what should happen, and they think it should be their way. Which is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my way.

  George Lucas

  Strong, Stars, War

  Source: movieweb.com

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• The arts are statistically proven to increase independent thinking, creativity, discipline, balance, and academic improvement in children.

  Mya

  Art, Children, Creativity

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• Compliant children are very easily led when they are young, because they thrive on approval and pleasing adults. They are just aseasily led in their teen years, because they still seek the same two things: approval and the pleasing their peers. Strong-willed children are never easily led by anybody--not by you, but also not by their peers. So celebrate your child's strength of will throughout the early years...and know that the independent thinking you are fostering will serve him well in the critical years to come.

  Barbara Coloroso

  Strong, Children, Independent

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• In economics, the majority is always wrong.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Inspirational, Majority, Investing

  John Kenneth Galbraith (1969). “Ambassador's Journal”

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• many rules could be made for the giving of orders. Don't preach when you give orders. Don't discuss matters already settled unless you have fresh data. Make your direction so specific that there will be no question whether they have been obeyed or not. Find out how to give directions and yet to allow people opportunity for independent thinking, for initiative. And so on and so on. Order-giving requires just as much study and just as much training as any other skill we wish to acquire.

  Mary Parker Follett

  Leadership, Independent, Opportunity

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• Many conservatives were openly angry with the Bush administration over enormous government spending and the chaos in Iraq. I don't see as much independent thinking on the left, where President Obama is rarely criticized by his acolytes.

  Bill O'Reilly

  Independent, Thinking, Government

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