He who would propagate an opinion must begin by making sure of his ground
and holding it firmly. There is as little use in trying to breed from
weak opinion as from other weak stock, animal or vegetable.
The more securely a man holds an opinion, the more temperate he can
afford to be, and the more temperate he is, the more weight he will carry
with those who are in the long run weightiest. Ideas and opinions, like
living organisms, have a normal rate of growth which cannot be either
checked or forced beyond a certain point. They can be held in check more
safely than they can be hurried. They can also be killed; and one of the
surest ways to kill them is to try to hurry them.
The more unpopular an opinion is, the more necessary is it that the
holder should be somewhat punctilious in his observance of
conventionalities generally, and that, if possible, he should get the
reputation of being well-to-do in the world.
Arguments are not so good as assertion. Arguments are like fire-arms
which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.
Indirect assertion, leaving the hearer to point the inference, is, as a
rule, to be preferred. The one great argument with most people is that
another should think this or that. The reasons of the belief are details
and, in nine cases out of ten, best omitted as confusing and weakening
the general impression.
Many, if not most, good ideas die young—mainly from neglect on the part
of the parents, but sometimes from over-fondness. Once well started, an
opinion had better be left to shift for itself.
Insist as far as possible on the insignificance of the points of
difference as compared with the resemblances to opinions generally
accepted.