Common Sense Quotes - Page 40

• The maxim of science is simply that of common sense-simple cases first; begin with seeing how the main force acts when there is as little as possible to impede it, and when you thoroughly comprehend that, add to it in succession the separate effects of each of the incumbering and interfering agencies.

  Walter Bagehot

  Science, Simple, Agency

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• [I shall not] discuss scientific method, but rather the methods of scientists. We proceed by common sense and ingenuity. There are no rules, only the principles of integrity and objectivity, with a complete rejection of all authority except that of fact.

  Joel Henry Hildebrand

  Integrity, Science, Objectivity

  Joel Henry Hildebrand (1985). “Science in the Making”, Praeger Pub Text

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• Someday someone will write a pathology of experimental physics and bring to light all those swindles which subvert our reason, beguile our judgement and, what is worse, stand in the way of any practical progress. The phenomena must be freed once and for all from their grim torture chamber of empiricism, mechanism, and dogmatism; they must be brought before the jury of man's common sense.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Writing, Science, Men

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• Do not imagine that mathematics is hard and crabbed, and repulsive to common sense. It is merely the etherealization of common sense.

  Lord Kelvin

  Imagine, Mathematics, Harsh

  "Life of Lord Kelvin". Book by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 1910.

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• The general mental qualification necessary for scientific advancement is that which is usually denominated "common sense," though added to this, imagination, induction, and trained logic, either of common language or of mathematics, are important adjuncts.

  Joseph Henry

  Science, Imagination, Important

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• We may always depend on it that algebra, which cannot be translated into good English and sound common sense, is bad algebra.

  William Kingdon Clifford

  Sound, May, Mathematics

  William Kingdon Clifford, Karl Pearson (2014). “The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences”, p.21, Cambridge University Press

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• These principles, universally recognized, are at fault when the question of the existence of God is considered; what has been said of Him is either unintelligible or perfectly contradictory; and for this reason must appear impossible to every man.

  Baron d'Holbach

  Atheist, Men, Religion

  "Superstition In All Ages (1732) Common Sense".

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• Communication of science as subject-matter has so far outrun in education the construction of a scientific habit of mind that to some extent the natural common sense of mankind has been interfered with to its detriment.

  John Dewey

  Education, Communication, Science

  John Dewey (1978). “The Middle Works, 1899-1924”, p.77, SIU Press

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• When it was first said that the sun stood still and world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei [the voice of the people is the voice of God], as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science.

  Charles Darwin

  Eye, Voice, People

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• There is a chalk outline slowly being drawn around common sense and most people can't identify the victim.

  Dennis Miller

  Fear, People, Stupidity

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• When the philosopher's argument becomes tedious, complicated, and opaque, it is usually a sign that he is attempting to prove as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense.

  Edward Abbey

  Fear, Atheism, Opaque

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.12, RosettaBooks

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• It is impossible for us, who live in the latter ages of the world, to make observations in criticism, morality, or in any art or science, which have not been touched upon by others. We have little else left us but to represent the common sense of mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights.

  Joseph Addison

  Beautiful, Strong, Art

  Joseph Addison, Richard Steele (1854). “The Spectator”, p.306

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• With the right to bear arms comes a great responsibility to use caution and common sense on handgun purchases.

  Ronald Reagan

  Responsibility, Gun, Use

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• Embracing your new kind of normal is the most empowering choice you will ever make. It transcends common sense. It is resistant to old patterns. It is sticky, uncomfortable, agitating, and difficult. But it is liberating and life giving and spirit enriching. It changes your life and the lives of everyone who joins you on your journey. And then, quite unexpectedly, you realize you are splashing hope into the lives of others because you have an intimate love relationship with the Source of hope.

  Carol Kent

  Hope, Encouragement, Journey

  Carol Kent (2007). “A New Kind of Normal: Hope-Filled Choices When Life Turns Upside Down”, p.219, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers made the great experiment of self-government.

  James A. Garfield

  Father, Intelligent, Government

  George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama (2017). “Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition”, p.142, e-artnow sro

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• Canadian-American relations for many years did not develop spontaneously. The example of accord provided by our two countries did not come about merely through the happy circumstance of geography. It is compounded of one part proximity and nine parts good will and common sense.

  Harry S. Truman

  Country, Two, Years

  United States. President (1945-1953 : Truman), Harry S. Truman (1963). “Harry S. Truman: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 1945-53”

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• The obscurity, incredibility and obscenity, so conspicuous in many parts of it, would justly condemn the works of a modern writer. It contains a mixture of inconsistency and contradiction; to call which the word of God, is the highest pitch of extravagance: it is to attribute to the deity that which any person of common sense would blush to confess himself the author of.

  Elihu Palmer

  Religion, Obscurity, Extravagance

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• It is clear from a common sense viewing of the program that coarse language is a part of the culture of the individuals being portrayed. To accurately reflect their viewpoint and emotions about blues music requires airing of certain material that, if prohibited, would undercut the ability of the filmmaker to convey the reality of the subject of the documentary.

  Jonathan Adelstein

  Reality, Culture, Viewpoints

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• We've come to be consumed by a 24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative ad, bickering, small-minded politics that doesn't move us forward. Sometimes one side is up and the other side is down. But there's no sense that they are coming together in a common-sense, practical, nonideological way to solve the problems that we face.

  Barack Obama

  Moving, Political, Together

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• One thing I have seen over and over again in life is that there is virtually no correlation between intelligence and common sense. IQ doesn't seem to translate that way.

  Vincent Bugliosi

  Way, Life Is, Translate

  Vincent Bugliosi (1998). “No Island of Sanity: Paula Jones V. Bill Clinton : the Supreme Court on Trial”, Ballantine Books

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• I'm sure it's very obvious . . . how upset I am with incompetence and the lack of common sense in life. If I can sum up the reason . . . it's that these characteristics are not benign. They are responsible for much, if not most, of the great problems, misery, and injustice in the world.

  Vincent Bugliosi

  Upset, World, Misery

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• The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Men, Law, People

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• Good design is probably 98% common sense. Above all, an object must function well and efficiently-and getting that part right requires a good deal of time and attention.

  Terence Conran

  Design, Attention, Function

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• Obamacare represents a shocking display of political arrogance. It's about time Washington started listening to Americans' common sense voices.

  Fred Upton

  Voice, Obamacare, Political

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• More and more clearly every day, out of biology, anthropology, sociology, history, economic analysis, psychological insight, plain human decency and common sense, the necessary mandate of survival that we shall love all our neighbors as we do ourselves, is being confirmed and reaffirmed.

  Ordway Tead

  Historical, Survival, Analysis

  Attributed to Ordway Tead in "The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life", p. 66, 1950.

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