There are no fools so troublesome as those of the mind

When I have a difficult subject before me — when I find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing ten thousand fools — I prefer to address myself to the one man, and to take no notice whatever of the condemnation of the multitude; I prefer to extricate that intelligent man from his embarrassment and show him the cause of his perplexity, so that he may attain perfection and be at peace.

Catherine of Aragon said,“None get to God but through trouble.

When all else fails, philosophize.

To reach him you have to back up and back up, and the further back you go, the further back you see you have to go, until what looked like a small problem of communication turns into a major philosophic inquiry.

but one thing ye do not know, nor yet have investigated, to teach those to be wise who have no intellect! HIPP. A clever sophist this you speak of, who is able to compel those who have no wisdom to be rightly wise. But (for thou art arguing too refinedly on no suitable occasion) I fear, O father, lest thy tongue be talking at random through thy woes.

You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool your own mind.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. — RICHARD FEYNMAN

Reach what you cannot

Whosoever comes to me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that.

It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

For it will be very difficult to persuade men of sense that he who with dry eyes and satisfaction of mind can deliver his brother to the executioner to be burnt alive, does sincerely and heartily concern himself to save that brother from the flames of hell in the world to come.

Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade.