The great obstacle to progress is prejudice.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Defoe says that there were a hundred thousand country fellows in his time ready to fight to the death against popery, without knowing whether popery was a man or a horse.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The prejudices of ignorance are more easily removed than the prejudices of interest; the first are all blindly adopted, the second willfully preferred.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge’s chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Playwright, Dramatist, Memoirist
There is no prejudice that the work of art does not finally overcome.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
In overcoming prejudice, working together is even more effective than talking together.
—Ralph Washington Sockman (1889–1970) American United Methodist Pastor
The greatest friend of Truth is time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion Humility.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
What is tolerance?—it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly—that is the first law of nature.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudices. It is noble to rise above them.
—Unknown
In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Two things reduce prejudice: education and laughter.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and even if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
Prejudices are rarely overcome by argument; not being founded in reason they cannot be destroyed by logic.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
Our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Prejudice is the sole author of infamies: how many acts are so qualified by an opinion forged out of naught but prejudice!
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Political leader, Revolutionary, Novelist, Poet, Critic
There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
All looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Destroy it. There may be a redistribution of the land, but the natural inequality of men soon re-creates an inequality of possessions and privileges, and raises to power a new minority with essentially the same instincts as the old.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change place with an easy and blessed facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself.
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American Novelist, Critic
Religion is as effectually destroyed by bigotry as by indifference.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
One can only give an unbiased opinion about things that do not interest one, which is no doubt the reason an unbiased opinion is always valueless. The man who sees both sides of a question is a man who sees absolutely nothing.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.
—Harper Lee (1926–2016) American Novelist
You are all fundamentalists with a top dressing of science. That is why you are the stupidest of conservatives and reactionists in politics and the most bigoted of obstructionists in science itself. When it comes to getting a move on you are all of the same opinion: stop it, flog it, hang it, dynamite it, stamp it out.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
The confirmed prejudices of a thoughtful life, are as hard to change as the confirmed habits of an indolent life: and as some must trifle away age, because they trifled away youth, others must labor on in a maze of error, because they have wandered there too long to find their way out.
—Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher
I’m interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.
—Clint Eastwood (b.1930) American Film Director, Film Producer, Film Actor
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.
—Hebrew Proverb
Our prejudices are our robbers, they rob us valuable things in life.
—Unknown
Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you—you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
The most learned are often the most narrow-minded men.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
How it infuriates a bigot, when he is forced to drag out his dark convictions!
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religionsbound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities. Whoever seeks to set one race against another seeks to enslave all races. Whoever seeks to set one religion against another, seeks to destroy all religion.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
It is harder to crack a prejudice than an atom.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Prejudices are the props of civilization.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
I wander if there really is a brave man with a really good imagination? If hypocrisy was destructive to the environment the world would have ended a long, long time ago.
—Unknown
No wise man can have a contempt for the prejudices of others; and he should even stand in a certain awe of his own, as if they were aged parents and monitors. They may in the end prove wiser than he.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Prejudice not being funded on reason cannot be removed by argument.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist