When I studied how to think in school, I was taught that the first rule of logic was that a thing cannot both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect. That last note, โin the same respect,โ says a lot. As soon as you change the frame of reference, youโve changed the truthiness of a once immutable fact.
Alan AldaYou wouldn't want to be called a sell-out by selling a product. Selling out was frowned on, whereas now you can major in it at business school.
Alan AldaBe as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.
Alan AldaYour assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while or the light won't come in. If you challenge your own, you won't be so quick to accept the unchallenged assumptions of others. You'll be a lot less likely to be caught up in bias or prejudice or be influenced by people who ask you to hand over your brains, your soul or your money because they have everything all figured out for you.
Alan AldaI still don't like the word agnostic. It's too fancy. I'm simply not a believer. But, as simple as this notion is, it confuses some people. Someone wrote a Wikipedia entry about me, identifying me as an atheist because I'd said in a book I wrote that I wasn't a believer. I guess in a world uncomfortable with uncertainty, an unbeliever must be an atheist, and possibly an infidel. This gets us back to that most pressing of human questions: why do people worry so much about other people's holding beliefs other than their own?
Alan Alda