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Reason Quotes

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Reason Quotes

“..(T)here are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.”

ThinkingMenNeedsBelieveMayTwoReasonHandsGovernmentOpinionDemocracyWiseShareAdviceDeserveOppositesFellowsDemocratDoctrineFallenWickedTrustedIrresponsibleCommonwealthTwo Opposites
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“When you're socially awkward, you're isolated more than usual, and when you're isolated more than usual, your creativity is less compromised by what has already been said and done. All your hope in life starts to depend on your craft, so you try to perfect it. One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages.”

WritingTryingMayPersonsSaidReasonDonePerfectCreativityDependsAdvantageAverageCraftsPermanentOddTemporaryUsualIsolatedFierceAwkwardIntrovertDisadvantagesAverage PersonSaid And DoneIntroversionSocially AwkwardAdvantages And DisadvantagesHopes In LifeOdd One
Book:Killosophy
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“If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited authority which I should refuse to any one of them.”

IfsMenShouldMayDoeI CanReasonCharacterNumbersConsciousnessCreaturesAuthorityIncreaseAbsolutesFellowsMajorityRefuseObstaclesUnlimitedAdversariesPossessingLiableReproachMisuseAbsolute Power
Book:American Institutions and Their Influence
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“We have already discovered the fact that fear is the chief reason for poverty and failure and misery that takes on a thousand different forms. We have already discovered the fact that the man who masters fear may march on to successful achievement in practically any undertaking, despite all efforts to defeat him.”

MenMayDifferentReasonFactsFormEffortPovertySuccessfulHe ManMastersThousandAchievementMiseryDefeatDespiteChiefsMarchUndertakings
Book:The Law of Success
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“Indeed, the very first acknowledgment (as far as I am aware) of the attraction of mutilated bodies occurs in a founding description of mental conflict. It is a passage in The Republic, Book IV, where Plato’s Socrates describes how our reason may be overwhelmed by an unworthy desire, which drives the self to become angry with a part of its nature.”

FirstsMayBookSelfReasonBodyDesireConflictAngryAttractionDescriptionRepublicPassagesPlatoFoundingOverwhelmedUnworthyAcknowledgmentPlato S
Book:Regarding the Pain of Others
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“Someone has described the modern American as a person who drives a bank financed car over a bond financed highway on credit card gas to open a charge account at a department store so he can fill his savings and loan financed home with installment purchased furniture. may this also be a description of many modern professed Christians? And may this not be one reason why modern Christians have so little time to pray? Importunity combined with perfect faith in unconquerable!”

MayLittlesPersonsReasonHomeChristianPrayerPerfectModernCarPrayingAccountsCreditStoresCardsSavingReason WhyDepartmentGasDescriptionFurnitureHighwaysLoanSavingsCredit CardLittle TimeDepartment StoresUnconquerable
Author:Paul Billheimer
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“There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is--to teach; the function of the second is--to move, the first is a rudder, the second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy.”

FirstsMayReasonHappensMovingLiteratureSpeakUnderstandingPleasureTeachHigherFunctionMereAffectionSailOarRudders
Book:Leaders in literature
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“There are many reasons for keeping a diary: to make a note of facts that one considers important; to open one's heart, to give vent to one's feelings, to make confessions; from the instinct of economy which sometimes encourages a writer to make good use of even the smallest crumbs of his life, so that he may have one more book to publish; or again from vanity and self- satisfaction.”

GivingHeartMayImportantBookSelfSometimesReasonFactsUseFeelingsEconomyNotesInstinctSatisfactionVanityConfessionSmallestPublishDiariesCrumbsSelf-satisfaction
Author:Alberto Moravia
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“It may indeed prove to be far the most difficult and not the least important task for human reason rationally to comprehend its own limitations. It is essential for the growth of reason that as individuals we should bow to forces and obey principles which we cannot hope fully to understand, yet on which the advance and even the preservation of civilization depend.”

ShouldHumansMayImportantReasonIndividualForceDifficultGrowthPrinciplesDependsCivilizationProveEssentialsTasksLimitationBowsPreservationHuman Reason
Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of phenomenological adequacy, inner consistency, and practical-moral consequences. Reason may err, but it can be moral. If we must err, let it be on the side of our creativity, our freedom, our betterment.”

IfsMayIdeasReasonProblemSidesAbilityMoralCreativityProgressConflictConsequenceTestsPracticalsHandleConsistencyBettermentAdequacy
Author:Rudolph Rummel
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“In examining the CIA's past and present use of the U.S. media, the Committee finds two reasons for concern. The first is the potential, inherent in covert media operations, for manipulating or incidentally misleading the American public. The second is the damage to the credibility and independence of a free press which may be caused by covert relationships with the U.S. journalists and media organizations.”

FirstsMayTwoReasonUsePastMediaConcernOrganizationIndependencePressesJournalistOperationsDamageInherentCommitteesCredibilityCiaMisleadExaminingPast And PresentFree PressCovert
Author:Frank Church
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“Do not despise the fish because they are absolutely unable to speak or to reason, but fear lest you may be even more unreasonable than they by resisting the command of the Creator. Listen to the fish, who through their actions all but utter this word: 'We set out on this long journey for the perpetuation of our species.”

MayLongReasonActionSpeakJourneySpeciesFishesCreatorCommandDespiseUnreasonableResistingLong Journey
Book:Exegetic Homilies (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 46)
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“The world is very beautiful and very wonderful. Life can be very easy when love is your way of life. You can be loving all the time. This is your choice. You may not have a reason to love, but you can love because to love makes you so happy. Love in action only produces happiness. Love will give you inner peace. It will change your perception of everything.”

WorldWayGivingMayReasonMotivationalActionBeautifulChoicesEasyLove IsWonderfulProducePerceptionInner PeaceVery BeautifulWonderful LifeFour AgreementsHappy LoveHappiness LoveReason To Love
Author:Miguel Angel Ruiz
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“The reason for not going out and sinning all you like is the same as the reason for not going out and putting your nose in a slicing machine: its dumb, stupid, and no fun. Some individual sins may have pleasure still attached to them because of the residual goodness of the realities they are abusing: adultery can indeed be pleasant and tying one on can amuse. But betrayal, jealousy, love grown cold, and the gray dawn of the morning after are nobody's idea of a good time.”

MayStillsIdeasReasonRealityIndividualFunSinPleasureMorningStupidColdGoodnessMachinesBetrayalDumbNosesDawnPleasantGood TimesGrayGoing OutDiscipleshipAdulterySinningMorning AfterLove JealousyResidual
Book:Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus
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“President Roosevelt and President Truman and President Eisenhower had the same experience, they all made the effort to get along with the Russians. But every time, finally it failed. And the reason it failed was because the Communists are determined to destroy us, and regardless of what hand of friendship we may hold out or what arguments we may put up, the only thing that will make that decisive difference is the strength of the United States.”

MayMadeStatesReasonHandsPresidentDifferencesUnitedEffortUnited StatesArgumentDeterminedCommunistTrumanPresident RooseveltPresident EisenhowerPresident Truman
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“There is no quality of the mind, or of the body, that so instantaneously and irresistibly captivates, as wit. An elegant writer has observed that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife. He that deserts the latter, and gives himself up entirely to the guidance of the former, will certainly fall into many pitfalls and quagmires, like him who walks by flashes of lightning, rather than the steady beams of the sun.”

GivingShouldMindWellsMayReasonBodyFallWalksQualitySunWifeWitFormerDesertGuidanceLatterSteadyFlashLightningElegantMistressBeamPitfallsQuagmire
Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“Hamlet 's character is the prevalence of the abstracting and generalizing habit over the practical. He does not want courage, skill, will, or opportunity; but every incident sets him thinking; and it is curious, and at the same time strictly natural, that Hamlet, who all the play seems reason itself, should he impelled, at last, by mere accident to effect his object. I have a smack of Hamlet myself, if I may say so.”

IfsThinkingWantShouldMayDoeReasonPlayCharacterSeemsLastsOpportunityNaturalEffectsObjectsHabitSkillsMereAccidentsPracticalsCuriousIncidentsSmack
Book:The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: With an Introductory Essay Upon His Philosophical and Theological Opinions
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“The authorities teach that next to the first emanation, which is the Son coming out of the Father, the angels are most like God. And it may well be true, for the soul at its highest is formed like God, but an angel gives a closer idea of Him. That is all an angel is: an idea of God. For this reason the angel was sent to the soul, so that the soul might be re-formed by it, to be the divine idea by which it was first conceived.”

GivingFirstsWellsMayIdeasSoulReasonMightNextFatherTeachDivineSonAuthorityHighestAngelBeing TrueComing Out
Author:Meister Eckhart
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“There is a further advantage [to hydrogen bombs]: the supply of uranium in the planet is very limited, and it might be feared that it would be used up before the human race was exterminated, but now that the practically unlimited supply of hydrogen can be utilized, there is considerable reason to hope that homo sapiens may put an end to himself, to the great advantage of such less ferocious animals as may survive. But it is time to return to less cheerful topics.”

HumansMayEndsReasonMightWould BeUsedAnimalRacePlanetsReturnAdvantageHuman RaceBombsTopicsUnlimitedCheerfulHomo SapiensHydrogenUraniumHydrogen Bomb
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“It is observable that the ladies frequent tragedies more than comedies; the reason may be, that in tragedy their sex is deified and adored, in comedy exposed and ridiculed.”

MayReasonSexWomenComedyTragedyExposed
Book:A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published
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“We cannot know whether we love God, although there may be strong reason for thinking so; but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbor or not. Be sure that, in proportion as you advance in fraternal charity, you are increasing your love of God, for His Majesty bears so tender an affection for us that I cannot doubt He will repay our love for others by augmenting, and in a thousand different ways, that which we bear for Him.”

ThinkingKnowsWayMayDifferentReasonStrongDoubtBearsThousandCharityAffectionNeighborGod LoveDifferent WaysNo DoubtProportionOur LoveMajestyFraternal
Author:Teresa of Avila
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“People only speak to get something. If I say, Let me tell you a few things about myself, already your defenses go up; you go, Look, I wonder what he wants from me, because no one ever speaks except to obtain an objective. That's the only reason anyone ever opens their mouth, onstage or offstage. They may use a language that seems revealing, but if so, it's just coincidence, because what they're trying to do is accomplish an objective.”

PeopleIfsWantTryingLooksMayReasonUseSeemsSpeakLanguageWonderMouthsLet MeAccomplishDefenseObjectivesCoincidenceRevealing
Author:David Mamet
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“Those that differ upon Reason, may come together by Reason.”

MayReasonTogether
Book:Moral and religious aphorisms [collected by J. Jeffery from the papers of B. Whichcote]. Now re-publ., with additions, by S. Salter. To which are added, Eight letters: which passed between dr. Whichcote, and dr. Tuckney
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“No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again.”

MenWayMayDoeReasonDonePastDesireEvilHe ManRegardNotionPunishmentRationalBeastFuryUndoneUnreasonableDoersEvil DoersPast Wrongs
Author:Plato
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“Those may justly be reckoned void of understanding that do not bless and praise God; nor do men ever rightly use their reason till they begin to be religious, nor live as men till they live to the glory of God. As reason is the substratum or subject of religion (so that creatures which have no reason are not capable of religion), so religion is the crown and glory of reason, and we have our reason in vain, and shall one day wish we had never had it, if we do not glorify God with it.”

IfsMenMayReasonUseWishUnderstandingReligiousSubjectsOne DayCreaturesCapableGloryPraiseVainNo ReasonBlessVoidCrownsGlory Of GodGlorifyPraise God
Book:Matthew HenryÕs Commentary on the Whole Bible: Volume IV-III - Ezekiel to Hosea
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“And because the condition of Man, (as hath been declared in the precedent Chapter) is a condition of Warre of every one against everyone; in which case every one is governed by his own Reason; and there is nothing he can make use of, that may not be a help unto him, in preserving his life against his enemyes; It followeth, that in such a condition, every man has a Right to every thing; even to one anothers body.”

MenMayReasonHelpingUseBodyCasesConditionsEvery ManChaptersPrecedent
Author:Thomas Hobbes
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“Do you dare to accuse wine of clouding the reason? Quote me more marvelous effects than those of wine. Look! when a man drinks, he is rich, everything he touches succeeds, he gains lawsuits, is happy and helps his friends. Come, bring hither quick a flagon of wine, that I may soak my brain and get an ingenious idea.”

MenLooksMayIdeasReasonHelpingBrainRichEffectsDrinkSucceedGainsWineDareMarvelousIngeniousLawsuit
Book:The Eleven Comedies
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“A Minister can always give a reason; and, if he be clever, he can generally when doing so punish the man who asks for it. The punishing of an influential enemy is an indiscretion; but an obscure questioner may often be crushed with good effect.”

IfsMenGivingMayReasonAsksEnemyEffectsHe ManCleverMinistersObscureCrushedInfluentialOften Is
Book:The Palliser Novels: Complete Parliamentary Chronicles (All Six Novels in One Volume): Can You Forgive Her? + Phineas Finn + The Eustace Diamonds + Phineas Redux + The Prime Minister + The Duke’s Children
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“I thinke it not amisse to forewarne you that you thrust as few wordes of many sillables into your verse as may be: and hereunto I might alledge many reasons: first the most auncient English wordes are of one sillable, so that the more monasyllables that you use, the truer Englishman you shall seeme, and the lesse you shall smell of the Inkehorne.”

FirstsMayReasonUseMightSmellVersesEnglishmenThrust
Book:The Complete Works of George Gascoigne: Volume 1, The Posies
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