Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.

—Sydney Smith

About Sydney Smith

Portrait of Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English writer and Anglican clergyman, mainly famous for his wit. Besides his energetic parochial work, he was known for his writing and philosophy, founding the Edinburgh Review, lecturing at the Royal Institution and his rhyming salad dressing recipe.

More quotations from Sydney Smith

Your ignorance, cramps my conversation.

—Sydney Smith

ignorance conversation

Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite nonsense, till death stares them in the face.

—Sydney Smith

life death nonsense

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.

—Sydney Smith

wisdom foolishness gravity

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.

—Sydney Smith

ignorance knowledge discretion

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.

—Sydney Smith

power impotence weakness change

More quotations tagged with “prejudice”

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed.

—Samuel Johnson

When the judgement's weak,
The prejudice is strong.

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

—Henry David Thoreau

If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon.

—George Aiken

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices—just recognize them.

—Edward R. Murrow

History

11 Jul 2015 Added