I will follow my logic, no matter where it goes, after it has consulted with my heart. If you ever come to a conclusion without calling the heart in, you will come to a bad conclusion.
Robert Green IngersollRead
Small people delight in what they call consistency-that is, it gives them immense pleasure to say that they believe now exactly as they did ten years ago. This simply amounts to a certificate that they have not grown-that they have not developed-and that they know just as little now as they ever did. The highest possible conception of consistency is to be true to the knowledge of today, without the slightest reference to what your opinion was years ago.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True consistency involves adapting and evolving our beliefs based on new knowledge rather than clinging to outdated opinions.
In this quote, Ingersoll emphasizes the importance of growth and intellectual evolution over mere adherence to past beliefs. He suggests that claiming to hold the same opinions for years is not a virtue, but rather a sign of stagnation and lack of insight. Genuine consistency is about aligning oneself with current understanding and experiences, which reflects personal growth and a willingness to change as one learns more.
Themes
GrowthChangeBeliefsConsistencyKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing change in personal development.
More from Robert Green Ingersoll
All quotes →If the guardians of society, the protectors of 'young persons,' could have had their way, we should have known nothing of Byron or Shelley. The voices that thrill the world would now be silent.
Robert Green IngersollRead
The religion that has to be supported by law is without value, not only, but a fraud and a curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket is hardly worth making.
Robert Green IngersollRead
There is no slavery but ignorance.
Robert Green IngersollRead
In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.
Robert Green IngersollRead
I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
Robert Green IngersollRead
Similar quotes
I cannot tell if what the world considers ‘happiness’ is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.
ZhuangziRead
What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power can easily destroy.
Salman RushdieRead
Take care to sell your horse before he dies. The art of life is passing losses on.
Robert FrostRead
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.
Corrie Ten BoomRead
Life is too short to be wasted in finding answers. Enjoy the questions.
Paulo CoelhoRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead