Wouldst thou subject all things to thyself?—Subject thyself to thy reason.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Reason is a harmonizing, controlling force rather than a creative one.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.
—Emile Zola (1840–1902) French Novelist
Well-bred instinct meets reason half-way.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Our reason may prove what it will: our reason is only a feeble ray that has issued from Nature.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Revelation is a telescope kindly given us, through which reason should look up to the heavens.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.
—Unknown
The heart has reasons that the reason does not know.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The little trouble in the world that is not due to love is due to friendship.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Of what significance are the things you can forget.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A good cause can become bad if we fight for it with means that are indiscriminately murderous. A bad cause can become good if enough people fight for it in a spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice. In the end it is how you fight, as much as why you fight, that makes your cause good or bad.
—Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) American Theoretical Physicist, Author
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
When a man begins to reason, he ceases to feel.
—French Proverb
The reason or motivation you have for making money or creating success is vital.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
As if reasoning were any kind of writing or talking which tends to convince people that some doctrine or measure is true and right.
—Catharine Beecher American Educationalist, Reformer
The affairs of life embrace a multitude of interests, and he who reasons in any one of them, without consulting the rest, is a visionary unsuited to control the business of the world.
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) American Novelist
Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The weakness of human reason appears more evidently in those who know it not, than in those who know it.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
Let reason govern desire.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
It isn’t until you begin to fight in your own cause that you (a) become really committed to winning, and (b) become a genuine ally of other people struggling for their freedom.
—Robin Morgan (b.1941) American Activist, Writer, Poet, Editor
Reason can no more influence the will, and operate as a motive, than the eyes which show a man his road can enable him to move from place to place, or than a ship provided with a compass can sail without a wind.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
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