Quotes about reason

"Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal."

Hamilton, Alexander on reason   

"As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it."

Havel, Vaclav on reason   

"To give a reason for anything is to breed a doubt of it."

Hazlitt, William on reason   

"What is rational is actual, and what is actual is rational."

Hegel, Georg on reason   

"To him who looks upon the world rationally, the world in its turn presents a rational aspect. The relation is mutual."

Hegel, Georg on reason   

"Reason gains all people by compelling none."

Hill, Aaron on reason   

"Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason."

Kant, Immanuel on reason   

"Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by nature. She had as leave give her kiss to an absurdity any day, as to syllogistic truth. The absurdity may turn out truer."

Lawrence, D. H. on reason   

"Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the Alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful."

Lichtenberg, Georg C. on reason   

"It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong."

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth on reason
4 fans of this quote   

"An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run."

Lowell, James Russell on reason   

"Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has."

Luther, Martin on reason   

"Our reason may prove what it will: our reason is only a feeble ray that has issued from Nature."

Maeterlinck, Maurice on reason   

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"I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly."

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on reason   

"A man always has two reasons for doing anything -- a good reason and the real reason."

Morgan, John Pierpont on reason   

"There is really nothing more to say except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how."

Morrison, Toni on reason   

"He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on reason
11 fans of this quote   

"Reason clears and plants the wilderness of the imagination to harvest the wheat of art."

O'Malley, Austin on reason   

"What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct."

Ovid on reason   

"Most of us, when all is said and done, like what we like and make up reasons for it afterwards."

Petersen, Soren F. on reason   

"Whenever a person strives, by the help of dialectic, to start in pursuit of every reality by a simple process of reason, independent of all sensuous information -- never flinching, until by an act of the pure intelligence he has grasped the real nature of good -- he arrives at the very end of the intellectual world."

Plato on reason   

"On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale."

Pope, Alexander on reason   

"Reason lies between the bridle and the spur."

Proverb, Italian on reason   

"Reason is the wise man's guide, example the fool's."

Proverb, Welsh on reason   

"Everyone has his reasons."

Renoir, Jean on reason   

"I got fame and fortune, and I lost my sense of reasoning."

Richard, Little on reason   

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

Rivarol, Antoine on reason   

"Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do."

Robinson, James H. on reason   

"Reason is like an officer when the king appears. The officer then loses his power and hides himself. Reason is the shadow cast by God; Go is the sun."

Rumi, Jalal-Uddin on reason   

"Reason is a harmonizing, controlling force rather than a creative one."

Russell, Bertrand on reason   

"The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we see in the maniac, the miser, the drunkard or the ape."

Santayana, George on reason   

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"A noble heart will always capitulate to reason."

Schiller, Johann Friedrich Von on reason   

"What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused."

Shakespeare, William on reason   

"Strong reasons make strong actions."

Shakespeare, William on reason   

"Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out."

Smith, Sydney on reason
6 fans of this quote   

"The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the highest."

Sophocles on reason   

"Our passion and principles are constantly in a frenzy, but begin to shift and waver, as we return to reason."

Sterne, Laurence on reason   

"Reason is a very light rider, and easily shook off."

Swift, Jonathan on reason   

"Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime."

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice De on reason   

"He that speaketh against his own reason speaks against his own conscience, and therefore it is certain that no man serves God with a good conscience who serves him against his reason."

Taylor, Jeremy on reason