But there is no species of self-hypnotism equal to that of a man who gazes persistently at a photograph with the
preconceived idea that he is in love with the original of it.
This fact confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass.
I made no doubt that the latter had been infected with some of the innumerable Southern superstitions about money buried, and that his phantasy had received confirmation by the finding of the scarabæus, or, perhaps, by Jupiter's obstinacy in maintaining it to be "a bug of real gold." A mind disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such suggestions - especially if chiming in with favorite preconceived ideas - and then I called to mind the poor fellow's speech about the beetle's being "the index of his fortune." Upon the whole, I was sadly vexed and puzzled, but, at length, I concluded to make a virtue of necessity - to dig with a good will, and thus the sooner to convince the visionary, by ocular demonstration, of the fallacy of the opinions he entertained.
One of these women so despised the other, and so longed to express her contempt for her (perhaps she had only come for that very purpose, as Rogojin said next day), that howsoever fantastical was the other woman, howsoever afflicted her spirit and disturbed her understanding, no
preconceived idea of hers could possibly stand up against that deadly feminine contempt of her rival.
"There is something--a something, Monsieur Frederic Larsan, much graver than the misuse of logic the disposition of mind in some detectives which makes them, in perfect good faith, twist logic to the necessities of their
preconceived ideas. You, already, have your idea about the murderer, Monsieur Fred.
He had
preconceived ideas about everything, and his idea about Americans was that they should be engineers or mechanics.
The water foamed as it fell in rapids and cataracts, which confirmed the doctor in his
preconceived ideas on the subject.
As the force of impressions generally depends on
preconceived ideas, I may add, that mine were taken from the vivid descriptions in the Personal Narrative of Humboldt, which far exceed in merit anything else which I have read.
"Nor did it precisely comport with my
preconceived ideas of the dignity of divine messengers," remarked Professor Porter, "when the--ah--gentleman tied two highly respectable and erudite scholars neck to neck and dragged them through the jungle as though they had been cows."
But it may be that a glimpse and no more is the proper way of seeing an individuality; and de Barral was that, in virtue of his very deficiencies for they made of him something quite unlike one's
preconceived ideas. There were also very few materials accessible to a man like me to form a judgment from.
Having a
preconceived idea of what a hospice entailed, it was a really humbling and uplifting experience.
Politicians tend to go into meetings with a
preconceived idea of what they are going to vote for, and all that gets in the way of learning.''