Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
1266
AUTHOR:
William James (1842–1910)
QUOTATION:
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
ATTRIBUTION:
Attributed to WILLIAM JAMES.—Clifton Fadiman, American Treasury, 1455–1955, p. 719 (1955). Unverified.
A similar thought was expressed by Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw): “Education is a good thing generally, but most folks educate their prejudices.”—Everybody’s Friend, or Josh Billing’s [sic] Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, p. 592 (1874). Spelling corrected.
