“I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand. That’s where you’ll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them.”

“Great work tends to grow out of ideas that others have overlooked, and no idea is so overlooked as one that’s unthinkable.”

“Whatever the reason, there seems a clear correlation between intelligence and willingness to consider shocking ideas. This isn’t just because smart people actively work to find holes in conventional thinking. I think conventions also have less hold over them to start with. You can see that in the way they dress.”

“The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want. ”


“When people are bad at math, they know it, because they get the wrong answers on tests. But when people are bad at open-mindedness they don’t know it. In fact they tend to think the opposite.”


“Instead of being part of the mob, stand as far away from it as you can and watch what it’s doing. And pay especially close attention whenever an idea is being suppressed. ”


“How can you see the wave, when you’re the water? Always be questioning. That’s the only defence. What can’t you say? And why?”

http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html