"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear o the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." Leo Tolstoy
This quote appears as a prefatory idea in the book recently published by Michael Lewis and it struck me as oh, so true. To my mind it alerts to the need for an open mind and a reflection based of evidence as opposed to ideology, political bias or any form of partisanship. Show me very clever people and one can often find that in at least one instance, they have failed to heed Tolstoy and yet still believe in the rightness of their cause or feeling. And this goes beyond partisan politics and even to sports and academia.
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