ما يصنع المفكّر الحرّ ليس معتقداته، بل الطريقة التي يتمسّك بها. فإن تمسّك بها لأنّ أهله أخبروه في صغره أنّها صحيحة، أو لأنّه لو لم يتمسّك بها لشعر بالتعاسة، ففكره ليس حرًّا؛ أمّا إن تمسّك بها لأنّه بعد تفكير متأنٍّ وجد أنّ الميزان يميل لصالحها، فإنّ فكره حرّ، مهما بدت خلاصاته غريبة.

“What makes a free thinker is not his beliefs, but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought, he finds a balance in their favor, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem.”Bertrand Russell — The Value of Free Thought: How to Become a Truth-seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery (1944)