QuoteProject
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Individuals can hold different views, but facts remain constant regardless of personal beliefs.

This quote highlights the distinction between personal opinions and objective facts. While everyone has the right to their own beliefs and interpretations, the underlying truths or facts are universal and not subject to individual interpretation. It serves as a reminder that discourse should be grounded in reality, despite the diversity of personal opinions.

Themes

OpinionFactsTruthBeliefsDiscourse

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about climate change, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of sticking to scientific facts rather than personal beliefs.

More from Daniel Patrick Moynihan

No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The richest inheritance any child can have is a stable, loving, disciplined family life.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead

Similar quotes

To discover and know has always been a deep tendency of our nature. Can we not recognize it already in caveman?
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
What is it that you contain? The Dead. Time. Light patterns of millennia. The expanding universe opening in your gut. Are your twenty-three feet of intestines loaded with stars?
Jeanette WintersonRead
When you say 'Black is beautiful' you are saying, 'Man you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being'.
Steven BikoRead
Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.
Henry David ThoreauRead
You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
H. L. MenckenRead
The soul should take care of the body, just as the pilgrim on his way to Makkah takes care of his camel; but if the pilgrim spends his whole time in feeding and adorning his camel, the caravan will leave him behind, and he will perish in the desert.
Al-GhazaliRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.