Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Prejudices are described as mechanical instincts that let people act without thinking, avoiding difficult mental work.
- In plain terms
- Prejudices save effort by replacing thought with habit.
- What can you take from it?
- Question automatic judgments.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do you rely on bias?
- What do you avoid thinking about?
Another view
Some habits are useful.
More from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely.…
Permalink to quote #4 It is we who are the measure of what is strange and miraculous: if we sought a universal measure the strange and miraculous would not occur and all things woul…
Permalink to quote #6 It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people's attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.
Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte quote #30 A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.
Edward R. MurrowEdward R. Murrow quote #52 A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
William JamesWilliam James quote #126