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Home  »  Respectfully Quoted  »  William James (1842–1910)

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

 
NUMBER: 1266
AUTHOR: William James (1842–1910)
QUOTATION: A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to WILLIAM JAMES.—Clifton Fadiman, American Treasury, 1455–1955, p. 719 (1955). Unverified.

A similar thought was expressed by Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw): “Education is a good thing generally, but most folks educate their prejudices.”—Everybody’s Friend, or Josh Billing’s [sic] Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, p. 592 (1874). Spelling corrected.
SUBJECTS: Opinions