Tolerance

Tolerance or toleration indicates a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own, especially evident in deliberate opposition to bigotry.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. ~ George Washington

Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil. ~ Thomas Mann

Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · See also · External links

A

• Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.
  • Sholem Asch, The Nazarene, 1939, p. 3.

C

• Tolerance without dialogue is a euphemism for indifference.
  • Count Miklós Cseszneky de Milvány et Csesznek, Párbeszéd, Partium, 2009 Spring edition, 16 p.

• Yet in time of stress and public agitation we have too great a tendency to disregard this policy and indulge in race hatred, religious intolerance, and disregard of equal rights. Such sentiments are bound to react upon those who harbor them. Instead of being a benefit they are a positive injury. We do not have to examine history very far before we see whole countries that have been blighted, whole civilizations that have been shattered by a spirit of intolerance. They are destructive of order and progress at home and a danger to peace and good will abroad. No better example exists of toleration than that which is exhibited by those who wore the blue toward those who wore the gray. Our condition today is not merely that of one people under one flag, but of a thoroughly united people who have seen bitterness and enmity which once threatened to sever them pass away, and a spirit of kindness and good will reign over them all.
  • Calvin Coolidge, "Ways to Peace", speech at Arlington (31 May 1926).

• The tolerant man has decided opinions, but recognises the process by which he reaches them, and keeps before himself the truth that they can only be profitably spread by repeating in the case of others a similar process to that through which he passed himself. He always keeps in view the hope of spreading his own opinions, but he endeavours to do so by producing conviction. He is virtuous, not because he puts his own opinions out of sight, nor because he thinks that other opinions are as good as his own, but because his opinions are so real to him that he would not anyone else hold them with less reality
  • Mandell Creighton, Persecution and Tolerance, Hulsean Lectures, University of Cambridge (Winter 1893–94)

E

• I do not believe we can have any freedom at all in the philosophical sense, for we act not only under external compulsion but also by inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying – A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he wills – impressed itself upon me in youth and has always consoled me when I have witnessed or suffered life’s hardships. This conviction is a perpetual breeder of tolerance, for it does not allow us to take ourselves or others too seriously; it makes rather for a sense of humor.
  • Albert Einstein, What I Believe (1930)

• I could say analogously that tolerance is the affable appreciation of qualities, views, and actions of other individuals which are foreign to one`s own habits, beliefs, and tastes. Thus being tolerant does not mean being indifferent towards the actions and feelings of others. Understanding and empathy must also be present....
  • Albert Einstein, quoted in Banesh Hoffmann and Helen Dukas (eds.), Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Princeton university press 1979, p. 89.

• The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision
  • George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860).

F

• I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance. That is my religion, and every day I am sorely, grossly, heinously and deeply offended, wounded, mortified and injured by a thousand different blasphemies against it. When the fundamental canons of truth, honesty, compassion and decency are hourly assaulted by fatuous bishops, pompous, illiberal and ignorant priests, politicians and prelates, sanctimonious censors, self-appointed moralists and busy-bodies, what recourse of ancient laws have I? None whatever. Nor would I ask for any. For unlike these blistering imbeciles my belief in my religion is strong and I know that lies will always fail and indecency and intolerance will always perish.
  • Stephen Fry, in his "Trefusis Blasphemes" radio broadcast, as published in Paperweight (1993).

G

• Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.
  • Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, as quoted in Words Of Wisdom: Selected Quotes by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2001) edited by Margaret Gee, p. 71.

I

• By excluding the intolerants from the scope of tolerance, Voltaire reduced tolerance to an empty box. Worse, he prepared the atrocities of the Terror of the French Revolution, which was in turn the model of Communist terror. Millions were killed by proclaiming they had no right to tolerance because they were themselves intolerant. …The dramatic mistake of Voltaire should be corrected by proclaiming that religions and philosophies have [the] right to be in different ways intolerant, and should still be tolerated.
  • Massimo Introvigne, "Tolerance of the Intolerants and the Tai Ji Men Case", Bitter Winter (November 2022)

J

• Suppose there should be a law made that all black men should be imprisoned, it would be unreasonable. We have as little reason to quarrel with other men for being of different opinions than as for being of different complexions.
  • James II of England, 1688 public speech, as recorded by an anonymous diarist. Source.

• People who are intolerant, categorize and over-react... should all be dragged against a wall and shot.
  • Arthur M. Jolly, The Questionnaire (2010).

K

• Theological condemnation of others, which breaks off fellowship in either judgment or contempt, is impermissible.
  • Ernst Käsemann, describing the view of Paul of Tarsus, Commentary on the Romans (1980), p. 369.

• We have no wish to indoctrinate; we want to teach our students to resist indoctrination and not accept as authoritative the beliefs of other men or even the ideas that come to us as in a flash of illumination. Even if one has experiences that some men would call mystical—and I have no doubt that I have had many—it is a matter of integrity to question such experiences and any thoughts that were associated with them as closely and as honestly as we should question the “revelations” of others. To be sure, it is easier to grant others their “revelations” as “true for them” while insisting on one's own as “true for oneself.” Such intellectual sluggishness parades as sophistication. But true tolerance does not consist in saying, “You may be right, but let us not make hard demands on ourselves: if you will put your critical intelligence to sleep, I'll put mine to bed, too.” True tolerance remains mindful of the humanity of those who make things easy for themselves and welcomes and even loves honest and thoughtful opposition above less thoughtful agreement.
  • Walter Kaufmann, “The faith of a heretic,” Harper's Magazine, February 1959

L

• If men understood the plan of evolution, instead of working each for his own personal ends they would all join together as a community and work harmoniously for the good of all with mutual tolerance and forbearance. It is obvious that if this were done all of these evils would almost immediately cease or at any rate could very shortly be removed. p. 326
  • Charles Webster Leadbeater, Some Glimpses of Occultism: Ancient and Modern (1903)

• To my parents freedom meant above all, "Live and let live." They were willing to settle for tolerance. For the world in which you are going to live, tolerance will not be good enough. We are now in the "Live and help live" era of democracy. Like your immigrant grandparents who sent for those left behind, you will have to help others to cross over into freedom.
  • Sam Levenson, Everything but Money

• We live in a world of intolerance masked as tolerance.
  • Rush Limbaugh, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7 March 2012 

M

• If tolerance is taken to the point where it tolerates the destruction of those same principles that made tolerance possible in the first place, it becomes intolerable.
  • Gaetano Mosca

• Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.
  • Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain (1924), as translated by Woods (1996), p. 506

• Tolerant people are the happiest, so why not get rid of prejudices that hold you back?
  • William Moulton Marston 1939 Your Life What are your prejudices?

• Neither tolerance nor intolerance is grounded in science and reason, but they are themselves acts of faith grounded in social custom and the politics of expediency and power
  • John Money, Homosexuality: Bipotenitality, Terminology, and History.

P

• Toleration, as it is now widely preached, may be a very one-sided bargain. It will not do to let falsehood and moral idiocy say to truth and honesty, "I will tolerate you if you will tolerate me."
  • Coventry Patmore, The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (London: George Bell and Sons, 1895), Magna Moralia XLII, p. 193.

• Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. [...] We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
  • Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), Vol. 1, Notes to the Chapters: Ch. 7, Note 4.

R

• Let us now consider whether justice requires the toleration of the intolerant, and if so under what conditions. There are a variety of situations in which this question arises. Some political parties in democratic states hold doctrines that commit them to suppress the constitutional liberties whenever they have the power. Again, there are those who reject intellectual freedom but who nevertheless hold positions in the university. It may appear that toleration in these cases is inconsistent with the principles of justice, or at any rate not required by them.
  • John Rawls, “Toleration of the intolerant,” A Theory of Justice (1971), p. 216.

• An intolerant sect has no right to complain when it is denied an equal liberty. … A person’s right to complain is limited to principles he acknowledges himself.
  • John Rawls, “Toleration of the intolerant,” A Theory of Justice (1971), p. 217.

• Those who merely tolerate fail to acknowledge the full dignity and humanity of others, including enemies. Tolerance is in fact the concession of something that some who consider themselves superiors grant to some they consider inferiors, out of their graciousness or, worse, their haughtiness. When simply tolerated, people do not have an inherent right to exist because they are human beings: they enjoy existence only because someone else recognizes and permits it.
  • Marco Respinti, "Tolerance? It Is Not Enough for Tai Ji Men‒or Anybody Else", Bitter Winter (November 2022)

S

• The doctrine of toleration requires a positive as well as a negative statement. It is not only wrong to burn a man on account of his creed, but it is right to encourage the open avowal and defence of every opinion sincerely maintained. Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions.
  • Leslie Stephen, The Nineteenth Century, vol. 13 (1883) p. 665.

T

• Tolerating someone means accepting their right to exist on the condition that they don’t disturb us too, too much.
  • Justin Trudeau, as quoted by The Guardian, Justin Trudeau rules out burkini ban in Canada (23 August 2016)

W

• When you speak in His presence about your past sins, He does not even understand your language. Only the present and the future have any interest for Him. … .I have committed crimes and have blood on my conscience. I told Jesus about it again and again. But because He had long ago washed all this away, there was no possibility of communication between us. He did not understand what I was talking about.
  • Richard Wurmbrand, If Prison Walls Could Speak (1972).

• The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
  • George Washington, From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790, National Archives and Records Administration.

See also

• Acceptance
• Diversity
• Mercy
• Pluralism
• Suum cuique
• "Intolerance," a 1993 song by Tool from the album Undertow

External links

Virtues
Altruism • Asceticism • Beneficence • Benevolence • Bravery • Carefulness • Charity • Cheerfulness • Cleanliness • Common sense • Compassion • Constancy • Courage • Dignity • Diligence • Discretion • Earnestness • Faith • Fidelity • Forethought • Forgiveness • Friendship • Frugality • Gentleness • Goodness • Grace • Gratitude • Holiness • Honesty • Honor • Hope • Hospitality • Humanity • Humility • Integrity • Intelligence • Justice • Kindness • Love • Loyalty • Mercy • Moderation • Modesty • Optimism • Patience • Philanthropy • Piety • Prudence • Punctuality • Poverty • Purity • Self-control • Simplicity • Sincerity • Sobriety • Sympathy • Temperance • Tolerance

Vices
Aggression • Anger • Apathy • Arrogance • Bigotry • Contempt • Cowardice • Cruelty • Dishonesty • Drunkenness • Egotism • Envy • Evil speaking • Gluttony • Greed • Hatred • Hypocrisy • Idleness • Ignorance • Impatience • Impenitence • Ingratitude • Inhumanity • Intemperance • Jealousy • Laziness • Lust • Malice • Neglect • Obstinacy • Philistinism • Prejudice • Pretension • Pride • Recklessness • Self-righteousness • Selfishness • Superficiality • Tryphé • Unkindness • Usury • Vanity • Worldliness