Common sense is, of all kinds, the most uncommon.—It implies good judgment, sound discretion, and true and practical wisdom applied to common life.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
He was one of those men who possess almost every gift, except the gift of the power to use them.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
My greatest strength is… common sense. I’m really a standard brand—like Campbell’s tomato soup or Baker’s chocolate.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
Knowledge, without common sense, says Lee, is “folly; without method, it is waste; without kindness, it is fanaticism; without religion, it is death.” But with common sense, it is wisdom; with method, it is power; with charity, it is beneficence; with religion, it is virtue, and life, and peace.
—Frederic William Farrar (1831–1903) English Clergyman, Writer
In the war for individual rights, common sense becomes the first and major casualty.
—Unknown
A man must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
To see what is in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
If a man can have only one kind of sense, let him have common sense.—If he has that and uncommon sense too, he is not far from genius.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Common-sense appears to be only another name for the thoughtlessness of the unthinking. It is made of the prejudices of childhood, the idiosyncrasies of individual character and the opinion of the newspapers.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
The figure which a man makes in life, the reception which he meets with in company, the esteem paid him by his acquaintance—all these depend as much upon his good sense and judgment, as upon any other part, of his character. A man of the best intentions, and farthest removed from all injustice and violence, would never be able to make himself much regarded, without a moderate share of parts and understanding.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning.
—Unknown
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.
—Persian Proverb
No man is quite sane. Each has a vein of folly in his composition—a slight determination of blood to the head, to make sure of holding him hard to some one point which he has taken to heart.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Common sense is compelled to make its way without the enthusiasm of anyone; all admit it grudgingly.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is.
—Samuel Butler
Common sense is what tells us the Earth is flat and the Sun goes around it.
—Unknown
Poetry is not made out of the understanding. The question of common sense is always: “What is it good for?” a question which would abolish the rose, and be triumphantly answered by the cabbage.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Fine sense, and exalted sense, are not half as useful as common sense.—There are forty men of wit to one man of sense.—He that will carry nothing about him but gold, will be every day at a loss for readier change.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
The common people of America display a quality of good common sense which is heartening to anyone who believes in the democratic process.
—George Gallup (1901–84) American Public-Opinion Pollster
Common sense is only a modification of talent. Genius is an exaltation of it. The difference is, therefore, in degree, not nature.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
—Rene Descartes (1596–1650) French Mathematician, Philosopher
Common sense is not so common.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Common sense and good nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The two World Wars came in part, like much modern literature and art, because men, whose nature is to tire of everything in turn, tired of common sense and civilization.
—F. L. Lucas (1894–1967) English Literary Critic, Poet, Novelist, Playwright
Common sense always speaks too late. Common sense is the guy who tells you ought to have had your brakes relined last week before you smashed a front end this week. Common sense is the Monday morning quarterback who could have won the ball game if he had been on the team. But he never is. He’s high up in the stands with a flask on his hip. Common sense is the little man in a gray suit who never makes a mistake in addition. But it’s always somebody else’s money he’s adding up.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Common Sense is instinct, and enough of it is genius.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Common Sense is very uncommon.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Elected Rep, Politician, Reformer, Editor
What a grand thing it is to be clever and have common sense.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning.
—Common Proverb
Who is the most sensible person? The one who finds what is to their own advantage in all that happens to them.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
—African Proverb
Common sense is genius in homespun.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
To act with common sense according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy is to do one’s duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one’s lot; bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it, whatever it is; and despise affectation.
—Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717–97) English Art Historian, Man of Letters, Politician
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
—Buddhist Teaching
There is nothing a man of good sense dreads in a wife so much as her having more sense than himself.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
We all have a little weakness, which is very natural but rather misleading, for supposing that this epoch must be the end of the world because it will be the end of us. How future generations will get on without us is indeed, when we come to think of it, quite a puzzle. But I suppose they will get on somehow, and may possibly venture to revise our judgments as we have revised earlier judgments
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Good sense is the master of human life.
—Unknown