Greek philosopher, Pyrrho (c. 360 - c. 270 B.C.), a native of Elis, taught that ... the wise man will withhold his judgment. Rather than say, 'This is so,’ we should say, 'So it appears to me,’ or 'It may be so.’
— Frederick Charles Copleston, A History of Philosophy: Greece & Rome, Vol. I, 1965

 

We are more readily convinced by reasons we have found ourselves than by those reasons which have occurred to others.
— Blaise Pascal, Pensιes, 1670

 

It is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than negatives.
— Francis Bacon, The new organon and related writings, 1620

 

... many factors ... have been shown to cause irrational behavior, including social and emotional biases as well as the many quirks of thought produced by such failings as not taking account of negative cases or being too swayed by what first comes to mind.
— (Norman) Stuart Sutherland, Irrationality: Why We Don't Think Straight!, 1992

 

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Halo error is the tendency for an evaluator to let the assessment of an individual in one trait influence his or her appraisal of that person on other traits.

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Similarity error is when evaluators rate other people by giving special consideration to those qualities that they perceive in themselves.
— Stephen P Robbins, Essentials of Organizational Behavior (6th ed.), 1999

 

It is irrational to measure an individual's total human worth on the basis of some [single] trait, behavior, accomplishment or other attribute.
— Albert Ellis and Raymond J Yeager, Why Some Therapies Don't Work: The Dangers of Transpersonal Psychology, 1989

 

Acts, and even habits, that are inconsistent with a trait are not proof of the nonexistence of the trait.
— Gordon W Allport, Personality and Social Encounter, 1960

 

Our behavior cannot be perfect.
— Steven J Hendlin, When Good Enough Is Never Enough: Escaping the Perfection Trap, 1992

 

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Mere foresight, even if it takes the form of accurate prediction, is not, of course, enough. The intellectual anticipation, the idea of consequences, must blend with desire and impulse to acquire moving force. It then gives direction to what otherwise is blind....
— John Dewey, Experience and Education, 1938

 

We inhibit learning when we view people as machine-like, suggesting that they follow instructions like a machine, and force them to justify behavior exclusively in terms of previously articulated plans.... What I am suggesting is an attitude and an understanding between employees and managers that acknowledges the inevitability of diversions and discoveries, and seeks to work with them, rather than apologizing or obscuring what is happening. We must give people the right to acknowledge that they are constantly re-perceiving and reorganizing their work.... We must give them the right to be assessors of their own work, giving them time and tools to reflect and re-conceive what they are accomplishing. We will do this not just because it is good, democratic policy, but because it is inherently the nature of human activity.... People do not simply plan and do. They continuously adjust and invent. Managing this process means managing learning, not managing application of a plan.
— William J Clancey, "Practice Cannot be Reduced to Theory: Knowledge, Representations, and Change in the Workplace," 1995, in Organizational Learning and Technological Change, by S Bagnara, C. Zuccermaglio and S. Stucky (Editors); papers from the NATO Workshop held September 22-26, 1992 in Siena, Italy.

 

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