Opinionated People

When a man drives a stake down deep without being sure he is putting it in the right place, he may have to pull it up again with a good deal of difficulty. And when a person proclaims a positive opinion without being sure of his facts, he may have to modify it with much embarrassment. Some people with strong opinions can put them over without irritation, while others let their opinions protrude to the point where everyone stumbles over them. We have all known people who habitually oppose almost any opinion other than their own. We have all known people who take the opposite side of almost any question. We have all known people who seem to have become so accustomed to thinking they are right that it is difficult for them to suppose they could ever be wrong. But just as surely as people become overly “opinionated” other people are going to take pleasure in opposing their opinions and in exposing their errors. The fact is that we all make many mistakes. And no man, however self-confident or self-assured, can afford to overlook the possibility of being wrong as well as the probability of being right. The person who approaches with an open attitude is usually accepted with less resistance if he is right, and he can retreat with less embarrassment if he is wrong. And even a man of success and assurance must learn to alter his views when he comes in conflict with a demonstrated fact or a proved principle. To give up a wrong opinion is a wholesome kind of repentance. Of course it is possible for a person to be too agreeable. Opinions that waver with the winds aren’t worth anything. A man who doesn’t have convictions and who doesn’t defend them isn’t worth listening to. But people who are too sure of what they don’t know and who proclaim too positively their poorly supported opinions offer an open invitation to resistance and resentment. It is a great gift to be able to have definite opinions without appearing to be “opinionated.” It is a great gift to be able to lead people to an idea and make them want to drink without trying to pump it into them under pressure.”