"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience."

Harper Lee Literature See all quotes by Harper Lee →

React to this quote

More by Harper Lee

“...reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried.”

“She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.”

“People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”

“Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.”

“Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand.”

“When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, an evasion simply muddles 'em.”

Resonant Thoughts

"To me, the Muslim press has been suffering from what I can only call quite unjustifiable self-righteousness on the part of Muslim intellectuals. It is this innate weakness which has prevented them fro…"

— Wahiduddin Khan

Social Activism1925–2021

#time

"Experimenters are the shocktroops of science… An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature’s answer. But before an experiment can be performe…"

— Max Planck

Science1858–1947

#science

"Our experience in that respect ought not to lead us too hastily to assume that we have been therefore better than other people, but certainly we have been more fortunate. We came on the stage at a lat…"

— Calvin Coolidge

Politics1780–1853

#history

"Compulsory motherhood is not ennobling, although the friends of the foetus are at pains to point out that most women denied abortions end up loving their issue just the same. Whether they love them ju…"

— Germaine Greer

gender studies1939

#family