1,806 Quotes About Reason

So it follows that those who have reason have freedom to will or not to will, although this freedom is not equal in all of them. [...] human souls are more free when they persevere in the contemplation of the mind of God, less free when they descend to the corporeal, and even less free when they are entirely imprisoned in earthly flesh and blood.

The idea of our own rationality...was convincing to us only because we so wished to be convinced. To any impartial observer, could such a thing exist, the sham was patent. Emotion and instinct were the basis of all our decisions, our actions, everything we valued, the way we saw the world. Reason and rationality were a thin coat of paint on a ragged surface.

A rational judge will conditionally be accused of being biased as and when it suits either party's interest.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

Will we follow God or human intellect? Will we worship God or human intellect? Will we listen to God or human intellect? Which one will we bow to?

Sound reasoning is impossible without truth.

We can observe, but reasoning about what we observe requires truth.

Without Christ, we can’t rationally reason beyond what we can observe.

Apparently rational justifications will never explain all sorts of the different feelings and raw emotions art invoke in people.