30 Quotes On Open-Mindedness

In a world brimming with diverse perspectives and endless possibilities, open-mindedness stands as a gateway to growth, understanding, and transformation. The ability to embrace new ideas and appreciate different viewpoints is crucial not only for personal development but also for fostering harmony within our communities. In this blog post, we present a thoughtfully curated collection of the top 30 quotes on open-mindedness. These inspiring words from thinkers, leaders, and visionaries serve as reminders of the power and beauty of keeping our minds receptive and our hearts willing to change. Whether you're seeking to broaden your horizons or refresh your outlook, let these quotes guide you on a journey of enlightenment and openness.

1. “To be evenminded is the greatest virtue.Wisdom is to speakthe truth and actin keeping with its nature.” - Heraclitus

2. “Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

3. “Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.” - Jodi Picoult

4. “It is never too late to give up your prejudices” - Henry David Thoreau

5. “If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.” - Marcus Aurelius

6. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” - Albert Einstein

7. “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” - George Eliot

8. “All the systems which explain so precisely why the world is as it is and why it can never be otherwise, have always called forth in me the same kind of uneasiness one has when face to face with the regulations displayed under the glaring lights of a prison cell. Even if one had been born in prison and had never seen the stars or seas or woods, one would instinctively know of timeless freedom in unlimited space.My evil star, however, had fated me to be born in times when only the sharply demarcated and precisely calculable where in fashion.... "Of course, I am on the Right, on the Left, in the Centre; I descend from the monkey; I believe only what I see; the universe is going to explode at this or that speed" - we hear such remarks after the first words we exchange, from people whom we would not have expected to introduce themselves as idiots. If one is unfortunate enough to meet them again in five years, everything is different except their authoritative and mostly brutal assuredness. Now they wear a different badge in their buttonhole; and the universe now shrinks at such a speed that your hair stands on end.” - Ernst Jünger

9. “Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.” - Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni

10. “They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they can see nothing but sea.” - Francis Bacon

11. “Few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning.” - Virginia Woolf

12. “I believe one of the most sacrificial acts of love adoptive parents can do is to give up their preconceptions and agendas about what their child's views "should" be and be open to hear the conflicting emotions and thoughts their child often experiences.” - Sherrie Eldridge

13. “The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle; reinvent. Build a tangled bank.” - Steven Johnson

14. “The perception of other people and the intersubjective world is problematic only for adults. The child lives in a world which he unhesitatingly believes accessible to all around him. He has no awares of himself or of others as private subjectives, nor does he suspect that all of us, himself included, are limited to one certain point of view of the world. That is why he subjects neither his thoughts, in which he believes as they present themselves, to any sort of criticism. He has no knowledge of points of view. For him men are empty heads turned towards one single, self-evident world where everything takes place, even dreams, which are, he thinks, in his room, and even thinking, since it is not distinct from words.” - Maurice Merleau-Ponty

15. “It's a fact—everyone is ignorant in some way or another.Ignorance is our deepest secret.And it is one of the scariest things out there, because those of us who are most ignorant are also the ones who often don't know it or don't want to admit it.Here is a quick test:If you have never changed your mind about some fundamental tenet of your belief, if you have never questioned the basics, and if you have no wish to do so, then you are likely ignorant.Before it is too late, go out there and find someone who, in your opinion, believes, assumes, or considers certain things very strongly and very differently from you, and just have a basic honest conversation.It will do both of you good.” - Vera Nazarian

16. “Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads or you learn nothing. Don’t push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction.” - Hyman G. Rickover

17. “A different species a different set of values a world completely unlike your own. There is a feeling you can only get when you meet the unknown and open your mind. - Nakajima (Gin no Saji)” - Hiromu Arakawa

18. “It's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying. Learn to recognize good writing when you read it, even if it means overcoming your pride and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable.” - Ashly Lorenzana

19. “1. A Cup of Tea Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), recieved a university professor who came to inqure about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!" "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your up?” - Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps

20. “I'd always thought of myself as an open-minded person. I had no patience with anyone who put down other kids because of their race, religion, or sexuality. But that's just one kind of open-mindedness. There's another kind, too, the kind that's willing to see people for who they really are and admit when you were wrong about them. That's the part I still need to work on.” - Kelley Armstrong

21. “Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: it is your greatest asset. Be vulnerable: quake and shake in your boots with it. the new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things can only come to you when you are vulnerable, i.e. open.” - Stephen Russell

22. “Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling” - Deborah Day

23. “Flexibility requires an open mind and a welcoming of new alternatives.” - Deborah Day

24. “The Word frees us from smallness of mind (1 Kings 4:29) and from threatening confinements (Psalm 18:19).” - John Piper

25. “The problem with open-mindedness is that it can become empty-mindedness” - Christopher Hitchens

26. “Books and minds only work when they're open.” - James Dewar

27. “Some people like living in black and white worlds. Let them stay there. Appreciate all the colors you see in your world though.” - Ashly Lorenzana

28. “Open eyes love blindly” - Holly Romero

29. “Create inclusion - with simple mindfulness that others might have a different reality from your own.” - Patti Digh

30. “Foretold through memories I remember what dangers I was warned of if lived by ways of sinning. That by living a fruitful life with an open mind to love all people would bring me to a place of peaceful tranquility. I wonder if these are all lies. All of them.” - Nicholas A. McGirr