17 quotes
People will tie in with a fanatic if for no other reason than to break the monotony of their lives.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
Instant acceptance of an idea is as self-defeating as instant rejection.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
It (objection to a machine that could think) was the hook used by the rabble rousers, whose monopoly of moral interpretation might be challenged.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
It’s pretty human to smash the guy or the thing which tries to tell us something we don’t want to hear.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
Logical rationality is neither subversive nor nonsubversive. It is simply a statement of fact.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
The suppressed hunger to think was like an epidemic.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
He was not psychotic enough to set himself up as a chosen arbiter of mores and laws.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
A human being is seldom bothered with insufficient data; often the less he has the more willing he is to give a firm opinion; and man prefers some answer, even a wrong one, to the requirement that he dig deeper and find out the facts.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
In either event he could only adhere to the letter of the law, but then for every yea in the law there was a nay, and it always boiled down to simple expediency. Like a psychiatric diagnosis, it could always be juggled around to fit anything you chose.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
That kind of therapy, the use of force to make a man give up his convictions, has been tried since the dawn of history. I think we should have learned by now that it won’t work.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
Early in his career Hoskins had realized that no field of science is remote from the affairs of men, that there is a sociological implication inherent even in the simple set of screwing a nut on a bolt.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
There had been many times when man had been forced to adopt the only right opinion. Each time man’s forward thrust had slackened, vegetated, and died. Once, through the dark ages, the period had lasted almost a thousand years.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
To say that man has already achieved the ultimate and absolute truth is like a tribal taboo which says that a given river may never be crossed because the witch doctor proves beyond all reason that there is only chaos beyond.
The most puzzling of all contradictory concepts given me is the human will to set up such arbitrary limits to his comprehension.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
The public wants miracles. The public demands miracles; and if one source ceases to provide them, they will turn to another source which seems to accomplish the spectacular. Even while they resented and opposed the scientific attitude, they lapped up the miracles which this attitude accomplished with glee.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
The universe does not care whether man unlocks its secrets or leaves them closed. Water does not care whether man bathes in it or drowns in it; whether it waters his fields or washes them away. If man masters its laws and utilizes his knowledge, water becomes a force in his favor. But enemy or servant, water does not care.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
Everyone recognized that only five percent of all the people born ever amount to anything at all. Everyone humbly thanked his providential stars that through his own personal efforts and merit he had become one of the superior five percent. Everyone looked with pity and contempt upon the ninety-five percent who did not share his grace.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)
At this stage of man’s evolution, our scientists have been like little children facing a table piled high with the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. One piece is picked up and its holder says, “This is the important piece. I hold the one key to everything in my hands.” Well, of course, he does. Because every piece is a key piece.
They'd Rather Be Right (1954)