Reasonableness Quotes

• Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Men, Accomplished, Reasonable

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• I tried being reasonable, I didn't like it.

  Clint Eastwood

  Western Movie, Western Films, Cowboy Movie

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• In contrast to logic, there is common sense, or still better, the Spirit of Reasonableness.

  Lin Yutang

  Common Sense, Spirit, Logic

  Lin Yutang (1937). “The Importance of Living”

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• It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Charity, Significant, Difficult

  Interview with Mike Wallace, ABC TV, www.hrc.utexas.edu. April 27, 1958.

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• Socrates and Plato are right: whatever man does he always does well, that is, he does that which seems to him good (useful) according to the degree of his intellect, the particular standard of his reasonableness.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Plato, Men, Degrees

  Friedrich Nietzsche “Writings of Nietzsche: Volume III”, Lulu.com

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• Make measurable progress in reasonable time.

  Jim Rohn

  Inspirational, Time, Greatness

  FaceBook post by Jim Rohn from Feb 13, 2017

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• That proves you are unusual,' returned the Scarecrow; 'and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.

  L. Frank Baum

  Common Folk, People, Tree

  L. Frank Baum (2016). “30+ FANTASY ADVENTURES & FAIRY TALES – Ultimate Collection (Magical World Series): The Wizard of Oz Series, Dot and Tot of Merryland, Mother Goose in Prose, The Magical Monarch of Mo, American Fairy Tales, The Master Key, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The Sea Fairies…”, p.234, e-artnow

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• I will not attempt to deny the reasonableness and necessity of a party war; but in carrying on that war all principles and rules of justice should not be departed from.

  Robert Walpole

  War, Party, Justice

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• Experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Sacrifice, Long, Wish

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”

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• It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Conceited, Hysteria

  Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.642, Psychology Press

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• I should consent to breed under pressure, if I were convinced in any way of the reasonableness of reproducing the species. But my nerves and the nerves of any woman I could live with three months, would produce only a victim... lacking in impulse, a mere bundle of discriminations. If I were wealthy I might subsidize a stud of young peasants, or a tribal group in Tahiti.

  Ezra Pound

  Way, Pressure, Months

  Ezra Pound (1958). “Pavannes and Divagations”, p.55, New Directions Publishing

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• The great decisions of human life have as a rule far more to do with the instincts and other mysterious unconscious factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness. The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. Each of us carries his own life-form- an indeterminable form which cannot be superseded by any other.

  Carl Jung

  Shoes, Decision, Recipes

  Carl Gustav Jung (2001). “Modern Man in Search of a Soul”, p.62, Psychology Press

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• One of those disturbing tendencies in academic life is that there is a desire on the part of many in the name of open-mindedness to fall into a kind of relativistic denialism in which all positions are equally legitimate, all positions must be respected, and compromise must be entered into no matter what the starting point or reasonableness of the two parties.

  Lawrence Summers

  Fall, Party, Names

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• The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God; the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Powerful, Philosopher, Moral

  Saint Thomas Aquinas (1951). “Philosophical Texts”, London : Oxford University Press

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• He that rightly understands the reasonableness and Excellency of charity will know that it can never be excusable to waste any of our money in pride and folly.

  William Law

  Christian, Religious, Pride

  William Law (2001). “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, adapted to the State and Condition of all Orders of Christians, Volume 4”, p.45, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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• The public welfare demands that constitutional cases must be decided according to the terms of the Constitution itself, and not according to judges views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice. I have no fear of constitutional amendments properly adopted, but I do fear the rewriting of the Constitution by judges under the guise of interpretation.

  Hugo Black

  Views, Justice, Judging

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• Prepare for every negotiation... 1) Focus on Outcomes. What is it that you want to walk away with? Being as specific as possible also increases the likelihood of negotiation success. 2) Support your desired outcome with data that points to its reasonableness. 3) Writing down your key points in advance - and practicing them - enables you to stay focused on what's most important and avoid going off on tangents. 4) Err on the side of asking for more, rather than less [of what you really want]. 5) Be willing to walk away.

  Lois P Frankel

  Writing, Keys, Data

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• Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Hysteria, Creating, Feelings

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• The reasonableness of the agency of the national courts in cases in which the state tribunals cannot be supposed to be impartial, speaks for itself. No man ought certainly to be a judge in his own cause, or in any cause in respect to which he has the least interest or bias.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Men, Agency, Judging

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2009). “The Federalist”, p.525, Harvard University Press

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• When cowardice becomes a fashion its adherents are without number, and it masquerades as forbearance, reasonableness and whatnot.

  Eric Hoffer

  Fashion, Numbers, Cowardice

  "First Things, Last Things". Book by Eric Hoffer. Chapter 8: "Thoughts on the Present", 1971.

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• In my individual heart I fully believe my faith is as robust as yours. The trouble with your robust and full bodied faiths, however, is, that they begin to cut each others throats too soon, and for getting on in the world and establishing a modus vivendi these pestilential refinements and reasonablenesses and moderations have to creep in.

  William James

  Believe, Heart, Cutting

  Letter to John Jay Chapman, April 5, 1897.

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• Priests, she insisted, could not sin. It was a thing impossible. Everything that they did, and wished, was of course right. She hoped I would see the reasonableness and duty of the oaths I was to take, and be faithful to them.

  Maria Monk

  Faithful, Impossible, Sin

  Maria Monk (1851). “The Character of a Convent: Displayed in the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk ; Being a Narrative of Her Sufferings During a Residence of Five Years as a Novice and Two Years as a Black Nun in the Hotel Dieu Nunnery at Montreal ; to which is Added Confirmatory Notes and Affidavits Whereby Maria Monk's Disclosures are Most Fully Proved, and the Hideous Nature of the Conventual System are Exposed”, p.26

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• We love a world in which the people in the white hats get rewarded and the people in the black hats pay the price. And that I have to say doesn't happen very often, particularly in a very complex economy. We're in a time of panic where people have lost trust in what the banks are doing, what the investment firms are doing - lost trust beyond a level of reasonableness, to be honest. And, it's got to be stopped.

  Rebecca M. Blank

  White, Pay The Price, People

  "Religion&Ethics NewsWeekly" with Bob Abernethy, www.pbs.org. September 19, 2008.

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• But there remains the question: what righteousness really is. The method and secret and sweet reasonableness of Jesus.

  Matthew Arnold

  Sweet, Jesus, Secret

  'Literature and Dogma' (1873) ch. 12

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• We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others... Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognises justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with...the other nations of the world.

  Robert Baden-Powell

  Girl, Country, Patriotic

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