Nothing reaches the intellect before making its appearance in the senses.
—Latin Proverb
If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
I learned…that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) American Journalist Memoirist
A true history of human events would show that a far larger proportion of our acts are the results of sudden impulses and accident than of that reason of which we so much boast.
—Peter Cooper
Life is one long struggle between conclusions based on abstract ways of conceiving cases, and opposite conclusions prompted by our instinctive perception of them.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
To be faithful to your instincts and the impulses that carry you in the direction of the excellence you most desire and value … surely that is to lead the noble life.
—George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930) American Literary Critic, Poet
I never believe facts; Canning said nothing was so fallacious as facts, except figures.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way.
—Florence Scovel Shinn (1871–1940) American Illustrator, Spiritual Writer
Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.
—Billy Wilder (1906–2002) American Filmmaker
Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The thinker philosophizes as the lover loves. Even were the consequences not only useless but harmful, he must obey his impulse.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
If you have always done it that way, it’s probably wrong.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Decisions, particularly important ones, have always made me sleepy, perhaps because I know that I will have to make them by instinct, and thinking things out is only what other people tell me I should do.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Dramatist, Memoirist
The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it. My beliefs I test on my body, on my intuitional consciousness, and when I get a response there, then I accept.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them, for they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We should chiefly depend not upon that department of the soul which is most superficial and fallible (our reason), but upon that department that is deep and sure, which is instinct.
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) American Philosopher, Logician, Mathematician
Modern man’s besetting temptation is to sacrifice his direct perceptions and spontaneous feelings to his reasoned reflections; to prefer in all circumstances the verdict of his intellect to that of his immediate intuitions.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
What you intuitively desire, that is possible to you.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
But are not this struggle and even the mistakes one may make better, and do they not develop us more, than if we kept systematically away from emotions?
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
I go by instinct … I don’t worry about experience.
—Barbra Streisand (b.1942) American Musician, Actor, Songwriter
No one is more liable to make mistakes than the man who acts only on reflection.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Well-bred instinct meets reason half-way.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
It is our business to go as we are impelled.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Statistics are no substitute for judgment.
—Henry Clay (1777–1852) American Politician
Impulse without reason is not enough, and reason without impulse is a poor makeshift.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author