Common Sense Quotes - Page 31

• Panic: A highly underrated capacity thanks to which individuals are able to indicate clearly that something is wrong. Given their head, most humans panic with great dignity and imagination. This can be called democratic expression or practical common sense.

  John Ralston Saul

  Expression, Imagination, Able

  John Ralston Saul (2002). “The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense”, p.228, Simon and Schuster

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• Only sound common sense, respectable fellow that he is, in the homely realm of his own four walls, has very wonderful adventures directly he ventures out into the wide world of research.

  Friedrich Engels

  Wall, Adventure, Research

  Friedrich Engels (2008). “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, p.47, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Common sense is the folklore of philosophy.

  Antonio Gramsci

  Philosophy, Common, Folklore

  Antonio Gramsci (2011). “Prison Notebooks”, p.173, Columbia University Press

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• I think the idea that giant profitable corporations should pay their workers enough so that they don't need food stamps - since when is that left wing? How did that become "leftie?" That doesn't seem leftie to me. That seems common sense.

  Nick Hanauer

  Thinking, Wings, Ideas

  Source: gawker.com

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• Good judgment, common sense, and reason all fly out the window when emotions kick down your door.

  John Wooden

  Doors, Emotion, Window

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• Nose-to-tail eating is not a bloodlust, testosterone-fueled offal hunt. It's common sense, and it's all good stuff.

  Fergus Henderson

  Stuff, Bloodlust, Tails

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• Magicians and scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangely, live in a world of their own, speak a specialized language and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothing in common with a group of people who often dress strangely, speak a specialized language, live in ... er.

  Terry Pratchett

  People, Magic, Dresses

  "The Science of Discworld". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1999.

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• It is time to put in place tough, new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation, and punishes short-cuts and abuse.

  Barack Obama

  Cutting, Innovation, Abuse

  First Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, delivered 24 February 2009

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• The light of common sense is fundamentally the same light as that of science, that is to say, the natural light of the intellect. But in common sense this light does not return upon itself by critical reflection, and is not perfected by what we shall learn to know as a scientific habit.

  Jacques Maritain

  Reflection, Light, Doe

  Jacques Maritain (2005). “An EPZ Introduction to Philosophy”, p.80, A&C Black

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• A profound common sense is the best genius for statesmanship.

  James Russell Lowell

  Profound, Genius, Statesmanship

  James Russell Lowell (1871). “My Study Windows”, p.132

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• We must frankly confess, then, using our empirical common sense and ordinary practical prejudices, that in the world that actually is, the virtues of sympathy, charity, and non-resistance may be, and often have been, manifested in excess. ... You will agree to this in general, for in spite of the Gospel, in spite of Quakerism, in spite of Tolstoi, you believe in fighting fire with fire, in shooting down usurpers, locking up thieves, and freezing out vagabonds and swindlers.

  William James

  Believe, Fighting, Fire

  William James (1985). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.284, Harvard University Press

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• Common sense is not an issue in politics--it's an affliction.

  Will Rogers

  Issues, Affliction, Common

  Will Rogers (1980). “Will Rogers' Weekly Articles: The Harding”

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• No man of common sense will value a woman the less, for not giving herself up at the first attack, or for not accepting his proposal without enquiring into his person or character; on the contrary, he must think her the weakest of all creatures in the world, as the rate of men now goes; in short, he must have a very contemptible opinion of her capacities, nay, even of her understanding, that having but one cast for her life, shall cast that life away at once, and make matrimony like death, be a leap in the dark.

  Daniel Defoe

  Character, Dark, Men

  Daniel Defoe (2011). “Moll Flanders”, p.94, OUP Oxford

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• Much as we do not permit convicted pedophiles to teach kindergarten or convicted hijackers to board airplanes, common sense dictates that individuals who have been imprisoned for plotting violence against abortion clinics should never again be permitted anywhere near such facilities.

  Jacob M. Appel

  Airplane, Abortion, Boards

  "The Case for an Anti-Abortion Violence Registry". www.huffingtonpost.com. July 30, 2009.

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• Evolutionism is a religious world view that is not supported by science, Scripture, popular opinion, or common sense. The exclusive teaching of this dangerous, mind-altering philosophy in tax supported schools, parks, museums, etc. is a clear violation of the First Amendment.

  Kent Hovind

  Religious, Philosophy, Teaching

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• And here come the Left Brothers - Al "747" Sharpton and Jesse "DC 10" Jackson - barreling in for a landing on top of Goodell's dome. And this time every black person with an ounce of common sense and self-respect is riding shotgun with Jesse and Al, who have justifiably voiced their displeasure with Limbaugh's ownership bid.

  Jason Whitlock

  Brother, Self, Black

  "Keep Rush Limbaugh Out of the NFL". Fox Sports, October 13, 2009.

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• Ultimately, all I wanted was for players to feel like they were in the real world. I wanted them to be able to apply real world common sense to the problems confronting them, and I thought recreating real world locations would encourage that kind of thinking. There's also just a real power, a real thrill, when you fire up a game and see a place you've been or want to go, and then get to do all the stuff you WANT to do there but know you'll get arrested if you try! If that isn't the stuff of fantasy - far more than exploring some goofy dwarven mine or alien spaceship - I don't know what is!

  Warren Spector

  Real, Player, Thinking

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• If refined sense, and exalted sense, be not so useful as common sense, their rarity, their novelty, and the nobleness of their objects, make some compensation, and render them the admiration of mankind.

  David Hume

  Novelty, Admiration, Refinement

  David Hume, J. B. Schneewind (1983). “An Enquiry Concerning The Principles of Morals”, p.56, Hackett Publishing

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• The common sense of the word (navy) as we use it today refers to a permanent fighting service made up of ships designed for war, manned by professionals and supported by an adminsistrative and technical infrastructure. A navy in this sense is only one possible method of making war at sea, and by some way the most difficult and the most recent. There have in the past been, and to some extent still are, many other ways of generating sea power.

  Nicholas Rodger

  War, Fighting, Past

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• The black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players to balance things up and give the team some brains and common sense.

  Ron Noades

  Soccer, Football, Team

  "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" by Steven Wells, www.theguardian.com. November 27, 2002.

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• The commotions that have taken place in America, as far as they are yet known to me, offer nothing threatening. They are a proof that the people have liberty enough, and I could not wish them less than they have. If the happiness of the mass of the people can be secured at the expense of a little tempest now and then, or even of a little blood, it will be a precious purchase. 'Malo libertatem periculosam quam quietem servitutem.' Let common sense and common honesty have fair play, and they will soon set things to rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Honesty, Taken, Blood

  Thomas Jefferson (1861). “Correspondence”, p.77

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• As a scientist I cannot help feeling that all religions are on a tottering foundation. None is perfect or inspired. As for their prophets, there are as many today as ever before, only now science refuses to let them overstep the bounds of common sense.

  Luther Burbank

  Perfect, Feelings, Atheism

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• Overcoming fear has nothing to do with abandoning common sense. We retain our common sense, but we lose that emotion that is fear.

  Frederick Lenz

  Overcoming, Gaining Power, Emotion

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• To discover the true principles of morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods. They need but common sense. They have only to look within themselves, to reflect upon their own nature, to consult their obvious interests, to consider the object of society and of each of the members who compose it, and they will easily understand that virtue is an advantage, and that vice is an injury to beings of the species.

  Jean Meslier

  Men, Atheism, Vices

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• Fanaticism and bigotry require any food but common sense and reason, which would break the charm of those spellbound fanatics.

  Anne Royall

  Atheism, Reason, Break

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