QuoteProject
In my experience, the most staunchly held views are based on ignorance or accepted dogma, not carefully considered accumulations of facts. The more you expose the intricacies and realtities of the situation, the less clear-cut things become.
Mary Roach
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Strong beliefs often stem from a lack of understanding rather than from a thoughtful analysis of facts.

Mary Roach's quote emphasizes that deeply entrenched beliefs are frequently rooted in ignorance or conventional wisdom rather than in a reflective assessment of facts. As one delves deeper into complex issues, the simplicity of one's views tends to unravel, revealing the nuanced and multifaceted nature of reality, which often contradicts black-and-white perspectives.

Themes

IgnoranceDogmaFactsComplexityUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

During a debate on scientific topics, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of informed discussion.

More from Mary Roach

I've read plenty of amazing science pieces where the writers don't hang out in labs. I just have fun doing it. And I get rewarded for it; I get gushy, especially when kids tell me they expected to be bored by my books, but weren't.
Mary RoachRead
Follow your instincts. Do the kind of writing you love to do and do best. 'Stiff' was an oddball book - I mean, a funny book about cadavers? - and I worried that it would be too unconventional. In the end, that's what has made it a success, I think.
Mary RoachRead
I don't fear death so much as I fear its prologues: loneliness, decrepitude, pain, debilitation, depression, senility. After a few years of those, I imagine death presents like a holiday at the beach.
Mary RoachRead
I'm drawn to the taboos that surround the human body. I find it fascinating that we are repelled by many of the acts and processes that keep us alive.
Mary RoachRead
I began thinking about my skeleton, this solid, beautiful thing inside me that I would never see.
Mary RoachRead
I walk up and down the rows. The heads look like rubber halloween masks. They also look like human heads, but my brain has no precedent for human heads on tables or in roasting pans or anywhere other than on top of a human bodies, and so I think it has chosen to interpret the sight in a more comforting manner. - Here we are at the rubber mask factory. Look at the nice men and woman working on the masks.
Mary RoachRead

Similar quotes

Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace. Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration.
D. Todd ChristoffersonRead
The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end - you don't come to an achievement, you don't come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
To put away one's own original thoughts in order to take up a book is a sin against the Holy Ghost.
Barbara TuchmanRead
That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness. That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack. That concentrating on anything is very hard work.
David Foster WallaceRead
Use memories. Do not let memories use you.
Deepak ChopraRead
You can be a decent critic if you know about food, but to be a really good one, you need to know about life.
Ruth ReichlRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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