Happy the man who has been able to know the reasons for things.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
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
The heart has reasons that the reason does not know.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened vocabulary of the talkers who talk.
—Indian Proverb
A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
There is really nothing more to say except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.
—Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American Novelist, Editor, Academic
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of others.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are human: and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing: at least we exist.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Man is a reasoning, rather than a reasonable, animal.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
Anger is never without a Reason, but seldom with a good One.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
Human reason is like a drunken man on horseback; set it up on one side, and it tumbles over on the other.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
Your giving a reason for it will not make it right.—You may have a reason why two and two should make five, but they will still make but four.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Opinions are formed in a process of open discussion and public debate, and where no opportunity for the forming of opinions exists, there may be moods—moods of the masses and moods of individuals, the latter no less fickle and unreliable than the former—but no opinion.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.
—Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801) French Writer, Epigrammatist
I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
Little-minded people’s thoughts move in such small circles that five minutes conversation gives you an arc long enough to determine their whole curve.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
They that will not be counselled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Reason is the slow and torturous method by which those who do not know the truth discover it.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Too many of those with unrealized aspirations have set them aside due to fear of failure. The bigger the dream, the greater the fear. Doing less than our best allays this fear. I could have done better if I’d tried, we assure ourselves. Among the least appreciated reasons for doing superficial, second-rate work of any kind is the comfort of knowing it’s not our best that’s on the line. By not trying too hard, we avoid learning what our true potential is, and having to fulfill it. Doing our best can be deeply threatening. It forces us to consider what we’re actually capable of accomplishing. Once we learn that lesson, we can’t unlearn it. Our true potential becomes both a shining light we can follow and an oppressive burden of expectation that might, or might not, be met.
—Unknown
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Everything happens for a reason and that reason is there to assist me.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Men are blind in their own cause.
—Modern Proverb