Reason Quotes - Page 5

• Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

  Martin Luther

  Faith, War, Feet

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• The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination; since inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination.

  Joseph Addison

  Voice, Bent, Length

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1854). “The Spectator: with a biographical and critical preface, and explanatory notes”, p.372

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• But all was false and hollow; though his tongue Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, 4 to perplex and dash Maturest counsels.

  John Milton

  Tongue, Hollow

  John Milton (1853). “The Poetical Works of John Milton”, p.41

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• He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.

  Andrew Carnegie

  Funny, Wisdom, Intelligence

  Andrew Carnegie (2015). “The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie”, p.69, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.

  Isaac Asimov

  Play, Atheism, Waste

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• I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Sarcastic, Unbearable

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.30, Wordsworth Editions

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• Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Believe, Omnipotence, Monsters

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.167, A&C Black

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• Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.

  Antoine Rivarol

  Passion, Actors, Historian

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• If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.

  Samuel Butler

  Logic, Enough, Conclusion

  Samuel Butler (1970). “A critical and annotated edition of Samuel Butler's Erewhon”

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• We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

  Blaise Pascal

  Wisdom, Truth, Heart

  "Blaise Pascal Thoughts: Selected and Translated".

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• Quite often I have been faced with people who were praised and admired for their talents and their achievements... According to prevailing attitudes, these people-the pride and joy of their parents-should have had a strong and stable sense of self-assurance. But the case is exactly the opposite... Whenever they suddenly get the feeling they have failed to live up to some ideal image or have not measured up to some standard, then they are plagued by anxiety or deep feelings of guilt and shame. What are the reasons for such disturbances in these competent, accomplished people?

  Alice Miller

  Strong, Attitude, Pride

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• The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.

  Donald Calne

  Emotional, Differences, Fundraising

  Donald Calne (2010). “Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior”, p.253, Vintage

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• There is nothing higher than reason.

  Immanuel Kant

  Knowledge, Categorical Imperative, Higher

  Immanuel Kant (1896). “Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason”

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• There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency.

  Jeremy Collier

  Ease, Certainty, Insufficiency

  Jeremy COLLIER (the Nonjuror.), J. E. (1838). “Pearls of Great Price: or, Maxims, reflections, characters and thoughts, on miscellaneous subjects ... Selected from the works of the Rev. Jeremy Collier by the editor of “Sir William Jones's Discourses,” etc. [The editor's preface signed: J. E., i.e. James Elmes.]”, p.105

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• A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.

  James Anthony Froude

  Ideas, Persons, Possessed

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• Truly, that reason upon which we plume ourselves, though it may answer for little things, yet for great decisions is hardly surer than a toss up.

  Charles Sanders Peirce

  Decision, Answers, May

  Charles Sanders Peirce (1974). “Collected Papers”, p.351, Harvard University Press

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• What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.... [Instead] reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?

  Thomas Jefferson

  Hypocrite, Errors, Support

  "Notes on the State of Virginia". Book by Thomas Jefferson, 1781-1783.

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• Nothing can be lasting when reason does not rule.

  Quintus Curtius Rufus

  Doe, Lasting

  "Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt". Book IV, 14, 19,

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• The proper work of man, the grand drift of human life, is to follow reason, that noble spark kindled in us from heaven.

  Isaac Barrow

  Men, Heaven, Noble

  Isaac Barrow (1830). “The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow”, p.369

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• Why do we hold onto negativity? For some reason, we believe that others are affected by our experience of remaining upset, hurt or angry. Holding on to pain, anger, guilt or shame is the glue that binds us to the situation we want to escape.

  Iyanla Vanzant

  Hurt, Pain, Believe

  FaceBook post by Iyanla Vanzant from Dec 06, 2016

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• Reason can never reconcile one to life: nothing allays the wants one cannot explain.

  Elizabeth Bowen

  Want, Reconcile

  Elizabeth Bowen (1998). “Bowen's Court”

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• Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something - love - from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.

  Milan Kundera

  Love, Asking, Demand

  "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Book by Milan Kundera, 1984.

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• What was the point in such loneliness among people. At least if you were by yourself, you had a good reason to be lonely.

  Janet Fitch

  Lonely, Loneliness, People

  Janet Fitch (2013). “White Oleander”, p.83, Hachette UK

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• As if reasoning were any kind of writing or talking which tends to convince people that some doctrine or measure is true and right.

  Catharine Beecher

  Writing, Talking, People

  Catharine Esther Beecher (1872). “Woman's Profession as Mother and Educator: With Views in Opposition to Woman Suffrage”, p.206

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• Losing your way on a journey is unfortunate. But, losing your reason for the journey is a fate more cruel.

  H. G. Wells

  Fate, Journey, Way

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