1,806 Quotes About Reason

We are slipping back from the age of reason into the mire of mystery, into a world of gods and devils, ghouls and angels. The difference this time is that we have chosen ignorance over knowledge, vapidity over insight, folly over realism. Consequently, we only have ourselves to blame when the rich and powerful take advantage of us.

Reason begets honesty, and honesty, if given its head, begets confidence; so consequently, there is a sort of grand authority in the stances of those who know why they are standing.

The wrong approaches to faith and to skepticism are equally detrimental to the path. For the former declares its answers too soon and is later found false; the latter rejects sound answers altogether and hashes itself useless.

Han siger sig saadan hverken at ville eller at kunde troe, og paastaaer, at de anførte Skriftens Steder, som synes at bekræfte deslige Lærdom, maa ikke forklares efter Bogstaven. Ved denne Bekiendelse, som ham i Barndommen ved grundige Raisons er indprentet, holder han stift, saa at heele Svitzer-Land ikke kand bevæge ham til at vige fra sin forrige Meening.

Hvis jeg troer uden Beviis, kand jeg henfalde saavel til en falsk, som til en sand Troe: Og hvis jeg antager en Lærdom, som strider imod Sandserne, siger jeg, at Fornuften, som er GUds store Gave, er mig til ingen Nytte.

It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.

Let us fear the torment of emotions that might sway in its wake chaos through the sound construction of reason and discernment. Let us cherish instead emotional intelligence along the intricate and tortuous paths of life’s labyrinth. ("No handkerchief, when you need it")

When popes and pundits sell faith in the name of divine supremacy, rigidity overrules common sense, and reason is hailed as blasphemy.