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 is neither an art nor a science but a dodge
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
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 will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Logic is a system whereby one may go wrong with confidence.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Logic is a poor guide compared with custom.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Ethics make one’s soul mannerly and wise, but logic is the armory of reason, furnished with all offensive and defensive weapons.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
The logic of the world is prior to all truth and falsehood.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
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
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
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
Logic is the key to an all-inclusive spiritual well-being.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-American Film Actress, Cabaret Performer
Logic is neither a science nor an art, but a dodge.
—Benjamin Jowett (1817–93) British Theologian, Educator
Logic is like the sword—those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.
—Samuel Butler
Intuition is a suspension of logic due to impatience.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.
—Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015) American Actor
The real trouble with this world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite. Life is not an illogicality; yet it is a trap for logicians. It looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is; its exactitude is obvious, but its inexactitude is hidden; its wildness lies in wait.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
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
I cannot tell by what logic we call a toad, a bear, or an elephant ugly; they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best express the actions of their inward forms.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
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
Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover. To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better.
—Henri Poincare (1854–1912) French Mathematician
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
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 is the art of convincing us of some truth.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Logic and fact keep interfering with the easy flow of conversation.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Almost anything carried to a logical extreme becomes depressing.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer