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I am simply in favor of intellectual hospitality - that is all. You come to me with a new idea. I invite you into the house. Let us see what you have. Let us talk it over. If I do not like your thought, I will bid it a polite 'good day.' If I do like it, I will say: 'Sit down; stay with me, and become a part of the intellectual wealth of my world.' That is all.

Robert G. Ingersoll#123

KnowledgeIdeasLearningOpenness

About this quote

What does it mean?
Intellectual hospitality means welcoming ideas, discussing them, and keeping only those you find valuable.
In plain terms
Be open to ideas, talk about them, keep the good ones.
What can you take from it?
Welcome new ideas without being closed.

Where it applies

  • debate
  • learning

Putting it to work

  • host open discussions
  • evaluate ideas fairly

Questions to consider

  • How do you judge ideas?
  • What makes hospitality intellectual?

Another view

Some ideas may be harmful to keep even if interesting.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

  1. I am now speaking of the phenomena of nature. I believe, as much as I believe that I live, that the reason a thing is right is because it tends to the happines…

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  2. I believe in the fireside. I believe in the democracy of home. I believe in the republicanism of the family. I believe in liberty, equality and love.

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  3. I admit that reason is a small and feeble flame, a flickering torch by stumblers carried in the star-less night, blown and flared by passion's storm, and yet, …

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