The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical. . . . Any man who for one moment abandons or suspends the questioning spirit has for that moment betrayed humanity.
Bergen EvansRead
Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.
Interpretation
True freedom encompasses the ability to think critically and question one's beliefs.
This quote by Bergen Evans suggests that the essence of freedom lies not just in the ability to express oneself or act freely, but also in the capacity to think independently and doubt existing norms or beliefs. Without the freedom to contemplate and question, other forms of freedom lose their significance, highlighting the importance of critical thinking in any society claiming to value liberty.
In practice
In a discussion on civil rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of critical thinking.
The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical. . . . Any man who for one moment abandons or suspends the questioning spirit has for that moment betrayed humanity.
It seemed to me that all things were possible on the island, all tyrannies and cruelties, though in small; and if, in despite of what was possible, we lived at peace with another, surely this was proof that certain laws unknown to us held sway, or else that we had been following the promptings of our hearts all this time, and our hearts had not betrayed us.
The best actors just stay in the moment,and whatever happens in the scene is a genuine surprise. You really do not know what's going to happen next. But living that out in life is very dangerous because it throws you into a place where you don't know if you're going to survive.
We've already been reincarnated about a million times, maybe. It doesn't make sense any other way.
If the enemy could only know that Marcus Garvey is but a John the Baptist in the wilderness, that a greater and more dangerous Marcus Garvey is yet to appear, the Garvey with whom you will have to reckon for the injustice of the present generation.
A gift without a heart behind it is a bribe. God asks for our heart, not our gifts.
The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author; and to her treatment of the subject I will only add, in justice to men, that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in woman than ignorance
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.