Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them.
Interpretation
Informed and open discussions reveal the truth and challenge falsehoods, which those who advocate for errors fear.
This quote emphasizes the importance of open, honest inquiry and discussion as a means to uncover truth. It suggests that those who promote falsehoods or errors fear such dialogues because they expose and challenge their beliefs, while the truth remains unthreatened by scrutiny and debate.
In practice
In a debate on social issues, one might quote this to advocate for open discussions.
...This large and expensive stock of drugs will be unnecessary. By...doses of...medicines...multiplying...combining them properly, 20 to 30 articles, aided by the common resources of the lancet, a garden, a kitchen, fresh air, cool water, exercise, will be sufficient to cure all the diseases that are at present under the power of medicine.
The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life...The Bible...should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.
The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation in life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!
Dissections daily convince us of our ignorance of the seats of diseases, and cause us to blush at our prescriptions. How often are we disappointed in our expectation from the most certain and powerful of our remedies, by the negligence or obstinacy of our patients! What mischief have we done under the belief of false facts and false theories! We have assisted in multiplying diseases. We have done more β we have increased their mortality.
The art of healing is like an unroofed temple, uncovered at the top and cracked at the foundation.
[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community.
To grow wiser means to learn to know better and better the faults to which this instrument with which we feel and judge can be subject.
You donβt know the meaning of moderation, do you, my darling? A happy medium is something I wonder if youβll ever learn.
There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.
Be your character what it will, it will be known, and nobody will take it upon your word.
I thought they were helping me. I was so full of trust in them that I felt grateful as they carried me in the air. Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts.
I used to think I had no will to power. Now I perceive that I vented it on thoughts, rather than people. Conquering an unknown province of knowledge. Getting the better of a problem. Forcing ideas to associate or come apart. Bullying recalcitrant words to assume a certain pattern. All the fun of being a dictator without any risks and responsibilities.
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