A thought about the limits of an open mind

“I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.”
— Arthur Hays Sulzberger (attributing it to others)

Sulzberger was publisher of the New York Times during some consequential years (1935 to 1961). This quote appears in numerous places as a quote of his making, including in the Times itself in 1996, although it Sulzberger popularized a phrase that had been expressed elsewhere.

According to Quote Investigator, pinpointing who coined the phrase is not that simple. This is partly because a number of people uttered words like the quote, but not entirely so, and Sulzberger did indeed say the words as presented above, but would attribute it differently, as in this usage in 1954.

Quote Investigator suspects Walter Kotschnig said the words at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, although a later newspaper account in 1940 only used a partial quote. (Those infernal journalists!)

Prof. Walter Kotschnig told Holyoke College students to keep their minds open—“but not so open that your brains fall out.”

There are other instances, including evidence that Kotschnig may have used a phrase he had in the air. In the end, the Quote Investigator article finds:

In conclusion, QI would tentatively credit Walter Kotschnig with the saying because his speeches in 1939 and 1940 employed a close match. Certainly, he was a locus for its popularization. Yet, the 1937 citation indicated that the trope was already in circulation.

Once again, the story behind the quote can be as interesting as the words themselves. My thanks to James Hrynyshyn for additional details that allowed me to amend this post.