Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
Edward AbbeyRead
Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In situations where everyone seems to agree, true critical thinking may be absent.
This quote by Edward Abbey suggests that a consensus among a group of people often indicates a lack of independent thought and critical analysis. When individuals suppress their own opinions to conform with a majority, genuine thinking becomes compromised, leading to a superficial agreement rather than a thoughtful discourse.
Themes
ThinkingConformityIndependent ThoughtCritical ThinkingGroupthink
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of independent thinking in the workplace.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes →I love America because it is a confused, chaotic mess - and I hope we can keep it this way for at least another thousand years. The permissive society is the free society.
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If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
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The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
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I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
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Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.
Edward AbbeyRead
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