Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.
—Harper Lee (1926–2016) American Novelist
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
Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality, or religion.
—John Amos Comenius (1592–1670) Czech Educationalist
Prejudice not being funded on reason cannot be removed by argument.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The multitude are ruled by prejudices.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
The great obstacle to progress is prejudice.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Because a total eclipse of the sun is above my own head, I will not therefore insist that there must be an eclipse in America also; and because snowflakes fall before my own nose, I need not believe that the Gold Coast is also snowed up.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
All colors will agree in the dark.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
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
We do not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but we do want them for our brothers.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
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
It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost.
—Michel Foucault (1926–84) French Philosopher, Critic, Historian
Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure and interests. It is for this reason that most truths are nothing but prejudices.
—Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) French Critic, Novelist
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
Prejudices are rarely overcome by argument; not being founded in reason they cannot be destroyed by logic.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able to go to hell without perspiring.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
There is nothing stronger than human prejudice. A crazy sentimentalism, like that of Peter the Hermit, hurled half of Europe upon Asia, and changed the destinies of kingdoms.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Miserable creatures, thrown for a moment on the surface of this little pile of mud, is it decreed that one half of the flock should be the persecutor of the other? Is it for you, mankind, to pronounce on what is good and what is evil?
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Political leader, Revolutionary, Novelist, Poet, Critic
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free association with one who is.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
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
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
There is no prejudice that the work of art does not finally overcome.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the closer it contracts.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
He that is possessed with a prejudice is possessed with a devil, and one of the worst kinds of devils, for it shuts out the truth, and often leads to ruinous error.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian