--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The persecuting spirit has its origin…" description: "\"The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.\" — John Fiske" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg" --- # The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption… ![“The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.” quote by John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg) > “The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.” [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The desire to persecute stems from believing one's own views are absolutely true. **In simple terms:** Persecution arises from infallible self‑belief. Key Takeaway Question your certainty and stay open. Themes dogmatism intolerance conflict Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - political debates - religious disputes - academic disagreements - online arguments Key Concepts epistemology social psychology ethics Questions to Reflect On - What beliefs do you hold as unquestionable? - How can you foster open dialogue? A Different Perspective Rigid certainty can hinder learning and dialogue. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Opinions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinions/) [Origin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/origin/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) ## Related quotes > [In proportion to its power, Protestantism has been as persecuting as Catholicism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-edward-hartpole-lecky/in-proportion-to-its-power-protestantism-has-been-as-persecuting-as/) [William Edward Hartpole Lecky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-edward-hartpole-lecky/) > [“When it comes to persecuting people for pot, there’s a long list of horror stories. The thing that gets me is, why? Why waste…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-nelson/when-it-comes-to-persecuting-people-for-pot-there-s-a-long-list-of/) [Willie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willie-nelson/) > [The only thing I oppose is persecuting of Eastern Orthodox priests and temples.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-zhirinovsky/the-only-thing-i-oppose-is-persecuting-of-eastern-orthodox-priests/) [Vladimir Zhirinovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-zhirinovsky/) > [I have forgiven those who were persecuting me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-bennett/i-have-forgiven-those-who-were-persecuting-me/) [Roy Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-bennett/) > [Persecuting bigots may be compared to those burning lenses which Lenhenboeck and others composed from ice; by their chilling apathy they freeze the suppliant;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/persecuting-bigots-may-be-compared-to-those-burning-lenses-which/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Both Left and Right take pleasure in mildly persecuting those who fail to meet their civic ideals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-weisberg/both-left-and-right-take-pleasure-in-mildly-persecuting-those-who/) [Jacob Weisberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-weisberg/) > [No government intent on persecuting its critics will want to leave the outcome of a trial to chance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amal-clooney/no-government-intent-on-persecuting-its-critics-will-want-to-leave/) [Amal Clooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amal-clooney/) > [Who is a terrorist? Is it not the person who has been persecuting human beings simply because they are black?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-tambo/who-is-a-terrorist-is-it-not-the-person-who-has-been-persecuting/) [Oliver Tambo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-tambo/) > [Every Victim requires a Persecutor. But the Persecutor isn't always necessarily a person. The Persecutor could also be a condition or a circumstance. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-emerald-womeldorff/every-victim-requires-a-persecutor-but-the-persecutor-isn-t-always/) [David Emerald Womeldorff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-emerald-womeldorff/) > [“Persecuting religious minorities is always ill-advised, every single time it occurs in history. I have never in my research found an instance where a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-wright/persecuting-religious-minorities-is-always-ill-advised-every-single/) [Jennifer Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-wright/) > [“Advocacy groups in the USA, as in other countries, may not be able to silence this hateful, cowardly and deceitful attack upon people’s humanity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-engela/advocacy-groups-in-the-usa-as-in-other-countries-may-not-be-able-to/) [Christina Engela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-engela/) > [An old man said Eraser are made For those who make MISTAKES. A youth replied Erasers are made for those who are willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/echoyan/an-old-man-said-eraser-are-made-for-those-who-make-mistakes-a-youth/) EchoYan > [“Leaders spend time reviewing their mistakes rather than having fantasies over their achievements! 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But it is better to be interesting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/correct-is-fine-but-it-is-better-to-be-interesting/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If the Bible is correct, and the Earth is only 6,000 years old, that means there were no dinosaurs, and museum curators have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-shock/if-the-bible-is-correct-and-the-earth-is-only-6-000-years-old-that/) [Ron Shock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-shock/) ## More by John Fiske > [“The alienated audiences was one that was aware of the performance as an arbitrary construction of the real, of the difference between players and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/the-alienated-audiences-was-one-that-was-aware-of-the-performance-as/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“In the economies of late capitalism leisure displaces labor, consumption displaces production, and commodities become the instruments of leisure, identity, and social relations.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/in-the-economies-of-late-capitalism-leisure-displaces-labor/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“Gless's lexical shift from "sexiness" through "femininity" to a "real strong lady" is a discursive shift and therefore has sociopolitical dimension. "Sexiness" is from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/gless-s-lexical-shift-from-sexiness-through-femininity-to-a-real/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“it is impossible for a free people to govern a dependent people despotically without endangering its own freedom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/it-is-impossible-for-a-free-people-to-govern-a-dependent-people/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“Because men's idea of masculinity can rarely be realized at work they have developed a masculine style for their leisure and social activities that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/because-men-s-idea-of-masculinity-can-rarely-be-realized-at-work-they/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [Is it honest for me to go and sit there on communion day and drink the wine and eat the bread while feeling it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/is-it-honest-for-me-to-go-and-sit-there-on-communion-day-and-drink/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [Realism is not a matter of any fidelity to an empirical reality, but of the discursive conventions by which and for which a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/realism-is-not-a-matter-of-any-fidelity-to-an-empirical-reality-but/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“There is no pleasure in being "duped" by the text into a helpless viewer, but there is considerable pleasure in selectively viewing the text…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/there-is-no-pleasure-in-being-duped-by-the-text-into-a-helpless/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“On the other hand, identification as a relationship of audience to performance disguised the arbitrarily constructed nature of the performance and encouraged the audience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/on-the-other-hand-identification-as-a-relationship-of-audience-to/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“Identification then becomes a process of imaginative wish fulfillment which can be, and is, criticized from at least two points of view. The moralists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/identification-then-becomes-a-process-of-imaginative-wish-fulfillment/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [We shall be inclined to pronounce the voyage that led to the way to this New World as the most epoch-making event of all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/we-shall-be-inclined-to-pronounce-the-voyage-that-led-to-the-way-to/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“My design was not so much to contribute new facts as to shape the narrative in such a way as to emphasize relations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/my-design-was-not-so-much-to-contribute-new-facts-as-to-shape-the/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [We now witness the constructive work on a foundation that will endure through the ages. That foundation is the god of science - revealed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/we-now-witness-the-constructive-work-on-a-foundation-that-will-endure/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [One and all, the orthodox creeds are crumbling into ruins everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/one-and-all-the-orthodox-creeds-are-crumbling-into-ruins-everywhere/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) > [“while we remain immersed in the study of personal incidents and details, as what such a statesman said or how many men were killed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/while-we-remain-immersed-in-the-study-of-personal-incidents-and/) [John Fiske](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) [Explore all 18 John Fiske quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. 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And when she got into music, she had that same diligence in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/she-spent-hours-drawing-on-her-own-trying-to-perfect-her-craft-and/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-wright/if-they-are-then-the-only-ultimate-truths-are-the-particulars-of/) [Chauncey Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-wright/) > [If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-he-s-the-inference-is-that-somehow-he-thinks-slavery-is-a-is-a/) [George W. 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That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) [Browse all 1,277 Assumption quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Fiske" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in-the-assumption-that-one-s/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assumption" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in-the-assumption-that-one-s/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2aa/john-fiske-29578_assumption_the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in_1345257.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The persecuting spirit has its origin... in the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct.” — John Fiske", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Fiske", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fiske/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The persecuting spirit has its origin......", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in-the-assumption-that-one-s/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fiske/the-persecuting-spirit-has-its-origin-in-the-assumption-that-one-s/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```