Common Sense Quotes - Page 15

• Most of man's problems upon this planet, in the long history of the race, have been met and solved either partially or as a whole by experiment based on common sense and carried out with courage.

  Frances Perkins

  Courage, Men, Race

  Frances Perkins (1934). “People at work”

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• Habits are powerful, but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness, or can be deliberately designed. They often occur without our permission, but can be reshaped by fiddling with their parts. They shape our lives far more than we realize—they are so strong, in fact, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense.

  Charles Duhigg

  Strong, Powerful, Brain

  "The Power of Habit". Book by Charles Duhigg, February 28, 2012.

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• Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and is lending oneself to the universal illusion without becoming its dupe.

  Henri Frederic Amiel

  Wisdom, Rising, Dupes

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• It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, Firsts, Effects

  "The Oracle of the Dog". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1923.

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• In contrast to logic, there is common sense, or still better, the Spirit of Reasonableness.

  Lin Yutang

  Spirit, Logic, Contrast

  Lin Yutang (1937). “The Importance of Living”

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• It seems to me that, as it is usually presented, the current orthodoxy about the cosmic order is the product of governing assumptions that are unsupported, and that it flies in the face of common sense.

  Thomas Nagel

  Order, Orthodoxy, Faces

  Thomas Nagel (2012). “Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False”, p.5, Oxford University Press

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• All of science is largely formalized common sense.

  Nancy Pearcey

  Common

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• The time must come inevitably when mankind shall surmount the imbecility of religion, as it has surmounted the imbecility of religion's ally, magic. It is impossible to imagine this world being really civilized so long as so much nonsense survives. In even its highest forms religion embraces concepts that run counter to all common sense. It can be defended only by making assumptions and adopting rules of logic that are never heard of in any other field of human thinking.

  H. L. Mencken

  Running, Thinking, Long

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• We live in a world changing so rapidly that what we mean frequently by common sense is doing the thing that would have been right last year.

  Edwin Land

  Mean, Years, Lasts

  Edwin Land's statement to Polaroid Corporation employees (June 25, 1958) as quoted in Victor K. McElheny "Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land" (p. 189), 1998.

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• We believe that the possibility of the future far exceeds the accomplishment of the past. We review the past with the common sense, but we anticipate the future with transcendental senses. In our sanest moments we find ourselves naturally expecting or prepared for far greater changes than any which we have experienced within the period of distinct memory, only to be paralleled by experiences which are forgotten.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Memories, Believe, Past

  Henry David Thoreau (1968). “Reflections at Walden: Selected Writings”

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• Presidents, leaders, to be effective have to represent the whole to the parts and to the world outside. They may live in the centre but they must not be the centre. To reinforce the common sense they must be a constant teacher, ever travelling, ever talking, ever listening, the chief missionary of the common cause.

  Charles Handy

  Leadership, Teacher, Talking

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• I never allow myself to become discouraged under any circumstances. The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are first, hard work, second, stick-to-ittiveness, third, common sense.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Children, Hard Work

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• No man can control Wall Street. Wall Street is like the ocean. No man can govern it. It is too vast. Wall Street is full of eddies and currents. The thing to do is to watch them, to exercise a little common sense, and … to come out on top.

  Jay Gould

  Wall, Ocean, Exercise

  "Jay Gould : A Character Sketch" by William T. Stead, February 1893.

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• The common-sense notion that 'there is a time and a place for everything' gets carried into a set of prescriptions which replicate the social order by assigning social meanings to spaces and times.

  David Harvey

  Order, Space, Social

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• Getting over those unexpected hurdles may not be exactly enjoyable, but ultimately I believe that such challenges and the solutions we find give us more confidence.They teach us with common sense and determination we can turn what looks like a disaster into a triumph.

  Martha Stewart

  Determination, Believe, Giving

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• Probability theory is nothing but common sense reduced to calculation.

  Pierre-Simon Laplace

  Probability Theory, Calculations, Common

  "Théorie Analytique Des Probabilités". Book by Pierre-Simon Laplace, second edition, 1814.

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• Every foreign policy of every major nation involves reason, common sense, carrots and sticks. You can't have all carrots and no sticks.

  Fred Thompson

  Sticks, Reason, Carrots

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• As man reaches out toward the twenty-first century, he will learn to be suspicious of all ideas that are not formulated so that they can be tested by observation.  He will realize that the history of human thought shows that the ideas of which we are surest are the ones we most need to test.  He will realize that his common sense only mirrors his training and experience.  What seems natural and right to him is usually a reflection of the conditions under which he spent his first decade of life.

  Jacque Fresco

  Reflection, Men, Ideas

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• What it takes to do a job will not be learned from management courses. It is principally a matter of experience, the proper attitude, and common sense — none of which can be taught in a classroom... Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done.

  Hyman Rickover

  Jobs, Attitude, Organization

  United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee, Hyman George Rickover (1982). “Economics of Defense Policy: Adm. H.G. Rickover : Hearing Before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session”

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• Republicans should simply focus on first principles and give the American people what they want - an honest party dedicated to common sense, fiscal responsibility and limited government. If we govern to save the country, we'll do well as a party.

  Tom Coburn

  Country, Party, Responsibility

  "For Republicans, the Moment for Reform Has Arrived" by Tom Coburn, www.realclearpolitics.com. September 24, 2010.

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• A Keyring? Achievements? These are not WoW-specific things. They are common sense. They exist in the real world.

  David Allen

  Real, Achievement, World

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• There are moments in our lives when we summon the courage to make choices that go against reason, against common sense and the wise counsel of people we trust. But we lean forward nonetheless because, despite all risks and rational argument, we believe that the path we are choosing is right and best thing to do. We refuse to be bystanders, even if we do not know exactly where our actions will lead.

  Howard Schultz

  Wise, Believe, Bystanders

  Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon (2012). “Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul”, p.7, Rodale

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• I see the great continuities in New Zealand history as being decency and common sense and up until now when we've confronted these things we've been able to talk them through, and I'm sure we will with this issue as well.

  Michael King

  Issues, Able, Wells

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• We have too many intellectuals who are afraid to use the pistol of common sense

  Samuel Fuller

  Use, Pistols, Common

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• We must rely less on spreadsheets and funding formulas and more on common sense.

  Kenny Guinn

  Funding, Formulas, Rely

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