Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

A. E. Mander, fully Alfred Ernest Mander

Australian or English Author of "Clearer Thinking," Psychology for Everyman (and Woman)", "Logic for Millions" and "Think For Yourself: Keener Intelligence, Sounder Reasoning, Better Memory"

"Never be afraid to challenge an axiom."

"People with untrained minds should no more expect to think clearly and logically than people who have never learnt and never practiced can expect to find themselves good carpenters, golfers, bridge-players, or pianists. "

"Thinking is skilled work. It is not true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think clearly and logically – without learning how, or without practicing. It is ridiculous to suppose that any less skill is required for thinking than for carpentering, or for playing tennis, golf, or bridge, or for playing some musical instrument. People with untrained minds should no more expect to think clearly and logically than those people who have never learnt and never practiced can expect to find themselves good carpenters, golfers, bridge-players, or pianists. Yet our world is full of people who apparently do suppose that thinking is entirely unskilled work; that thinking clearly and accurately is so easy and so “natural” that “anybody can think;” and that any person’s thinking is quite as reliable as any other person’s. This accounts for the fact that, as a people, we are so much less efficient in this respect than we are in our sports. For nobody assumes that any game is so easy that we are all first-class players “naturally,” without having to learn how to play or without practice. "

"Once an opinion is accepted, whatever be the cause of its acceptance, it has a strong tendency to persist. Every time we think along a particular thought-pattern, makes it easier for us to think the same way again."