Part 50

JULY 15

"When opposition of any kind is necessary, drop all colour of emotion out of it and let it be seen in the white light of truth."

"Nothing does reason more right than the coolness of those that offer it: For truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers."

WILLIAM PENN.

"Be calm in arguing: for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy."

GEORGE HERBERT.

"To speak wisely may not always be easy, but not to speak ill requires only silence."

Argument

JULY 16

"Prejudice is opinion without judgment."

"When a positive Man hath once begun to dispute anything, his Mind is barred up against all Light and better Information. Opposition provokes him, though there be never so good Ground for it, and he seems to be afraid of nothing more, than lest he should be convinced of the Truth."

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

"In proportion as we love truth more and victory less, we shall become anxious to know what it is which leads our opponents to think as they do. We shall begin to suspect that the pertinacity of belief exhibited by them must result from a perception of something we have not perceived. And we shall aim to supplement the portion of truth we have found with the portion found by them."

HERBERT SPENCER.

An Open Mind

JULY 17

"He often thought that Dr. Arnold's maxim of being prepared each morning to consider everything an open question a good working rule. Not that one should readily change one's opinions, but should always have an open mind, never a closed one, on any question outside exact knowledge."

"He that never changed any of his opinions, never corrected any of his mistakes; and he who was never wise enough to find out any mistakes in himself, will not be charitable enough to excuse what he reckons mistakes in others."

WHICHCOTE.

"Narrow-mindedness is a cause of self-sufficiency. We are slow to believe what is beyond the scope of our vision."

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Tolerance

JULY 18

"Nothing, in our Lord's wisdom, strikes me more than His moderation with regard to error. What seems false to one man's mind may be true to that of another."

Pastor Pastorum, HENRY LATHAM.

"A genuine universal tolerance is most surely attained, if we do not quarrel with the peculiar characteristics of individual men and races, but only hold fast to the conviction, that what is truly excellent is distinguished by its belonging to all mankind."

GOETHE to CARLYLE.

"New ideas want a little time to grow into shape: we know how easily a man is startled into shutting his mind against novelty when it is suddenly presented."