quotations about reason
He, who will not reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares not, is a slave.
WILLIAM DRUMMOND
preface, Academical Questions
But since the devil's bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she's wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can help us, then? Not judges, not doctors, no king or emperor, because [reason] is the Devil's greatest whore.
MARTIN LUTHER
last sermon in Wittenberg, January 17, 1546
Reason is simply a vast tautology.
J. M. COETZEE
Elizabeth Costello
False reasoners are often best confuted by giving them the full swing of their own absurdities.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Our reason is always disappointed by the inconstancy of appearances.
BLAISE PASCAL
Pensées
Never, never do violence to your rational nature. He who in any case admits doctrines which contradict reason, has broken down the great barrier between truth and falsehood, and lays open his mind to every delusion.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING
Thoughts
Reason is my only means of knowing and predicting the future; by it I have divined and acquired my knowledge.
OVID
attributed, Day's Collacon
To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.
ALEXANDER POPE
"Thoughts on Various Subjects"
Sometimes people need reasons for things, even when there are no reasons. That's what makes people believe in conspiracies or religions--if there's any difference. The world is just too complicated, so they need simple explanations.
TAD WILLIAMS
Otherland: City of Golden Shadow
It by no means follows that we acted from reason, because good reasons can be produced for what we did.
FULKE GREVILLE
Maxims, Characters, and Reflections
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things.
MARTIN LUTHER
Table Talk
God made man Intelligent and Voluntary, and the Law of his Nature, and the Reason of his Mind, God intended for the great Rule of his Life; to take place in all particulars, where God did not think good farther to profess his Will, and declare his Pleasure.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Human reason has discovered many amazing things in nature and will discover still more, and will thereby increase its power over nature.
VLADIMIR LENIN
Materialism and Empirio-Criticism
Reason enslaves all whose minds are not strong enough to master her.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Maxims for Revolutionists
Man parts with his freedom and enslaves himself when he subjects himself to that which is not sovereign in him, as Reason is.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Most of the human race, by one means or other, are prepossessed with principles opposed to the religion of reason.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Reason is the touchstone of philosophy.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
He who in reasoning cites authority is making use of his memory rather than of his intellect.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life