You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
Logic will not change an emotion, but action will.
—Indian Proverb
Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer.
—Robert Ranke Graves (1895–1985) English Poet, Novelist, Critic, Classical Scholar
Logic is the key to an all-inclusive spiritual well-being.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-born American Actor, Singer
Logic takes care of itself; all we have to do is to look and see how it does it.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Eloquence is logic on fire.
—Lyman Beecher (1775–1863) American Presbyterian Clergyman
Logic is the art of convincing us of some truth.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Another distinguished critic has agreed with Gide—that old lady in the anecdote who was accused by her niece of being illogical. For some time she could not be brought to understand what logic was, and when she grasped its true nature she was not so much angry as contemptuous. ‘Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!’ she exclaimed. ‘How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?’ Her nieces, educated young women, thought that she was pass
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
To a person in love, the value of the individual is intuitively known. Love needs no logic for its mission.
—Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) American Aviator, Inventor, Conservationist
Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Logic pervades the world; the limits of the world are also the limits of logic.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.
—Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015) American Actor
The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
Man is not logical and his intellectual history is a record of mental reserves and compromises. He hangs on to what he can in his old beliefs even when he is compelled to surrender their logical basis.
—John Dewey (1859–1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Educator
Syllogism is of necessary use, even to the lovers of truth, to show them the fallacies that are often concealed in florid, witty, or involved discourses.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.
—Samuel Butler
Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Humor is something that thrives between man’s aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.
—Victor Borge (1909–2000) Danish-American Comedian, Musician
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
The logic of the world is prior to all truth and falsehood.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Almost anything carried to a logical extreme becomes depressing.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Logic is like the sword—those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.
—Samuel Butler
Men are apt to mistake the strength of their feeling for the strength of their argument. The heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
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.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
It was a saying of the ancients, that “truth lies in a well” and to carry on the metaphor, we may justly say, that logic supplies us with steps whereby we may go down to reach the water.
—Isaac Watts (1674–1748) English Hymn writer
Logic and consistency are luxuries for the gods and the lower animals.
—Samuel Butler
Better to be without logic than without feeling.
—Charlotte Bronte (1816–1855) English Novelist, Poet
Logic and rhetoric make men able to contend.—Logic differeth from rhetoric as the fist from the palm; the one close, the other at large.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Logic and metaphysics make use of more tools than all the rest of the sciences put together, and they do the least work.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Reason also is choice.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Logic is one thing and Common Sense another.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel
—Ivan Turgenev (1818–83) Russian Novelist, Playwright
Logic is the anatomy of thought.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
Logic works; metaphysics contemplates.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Logic and fact keep interfering with the easy flow of conversation.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Logic is a large drawer, containing some needful instruments, and many more that are superfluous.—A wise man will look into it for two purposes, to avail himself of those instruments that are really useful, and to admire the ingenuity with which those that are not so are assorted and arranged.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
A man always has two reasons for what he does good one, and the real one.
—J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) American Financier, Philanthropist, Art Collector
Logic is a poor guide compared with custom.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Logic is a system whereby one may go wrong with confidence.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author