About this quote

Collective situations can make extreme or self-defeating ideas feel normal. You notice it when disagreement dies and phrases are repeated like a script. Try a simple habit: ask one inconvenient question before you nod, and see how often the room rethinks its certainty. If you lead, rotate who plays devil's advocate and reward the person who names risks.

When to use it

• At a product-review meeting where everyone's excited about the same risky feature, I say this to push us to run a small test first.
• During a local town-hall where one faction dominates the conversation, I bring it up to remind people to listen to quieter neighbors.
• In my debate seminar when applause builds around a single view, I mention the line to encourage someone to take the opposing side.
• Coaching a club team that just copied a popular but failing drill, I use it to stop groupthink and try our own experiment.