Quotes About Reason

It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of reason is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.

In the work of government, reason is the architect; it is the part of reason to command, and the duty of weakness and of passion to obey.

Reason ... governs like a just and lawful prince, and the little community of man is thus held together and sustained.

It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speach and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.

In the human constitution, therefore, mind governs matter absolutely and despotically; but reason governs appetite with a far more limited sway.

If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.

He who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.

Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.

Law is mind without reason.

Freud, however, asserts that ethics and morals come from human need and experience. The idea of a universal moral law as proposed by philosophers is "in conflict with reason." He writes that "ethics are not based on a moral world order but on the inescapable exigencies of human cohabitation." In other words, our moral code comes from what humans find to be useful and expedient.

When, therefore, we ask what ageing is for we must give the peculiar answer that it isn't for anything; it is, instead, the evolved consequence of there being no reason to stay alive.

happiness does not spring from the procuring of physical or mental pleasure, but from the development of reason and the adjustment of conduct to principles.

But it was not forgotten that an outside historical influence is never the ultimate reason for an intellectual revolution, for such an influence can become effective only if the preconditions fro its reception are already in existence.

Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness?

Neither do I greatly hope to influence the trained man of speculation, who has already found a theory of things which satisfies his reason.

There is a reason why so many social clubs ban the discussion of politics and religion: disagreements have ended friendships and started wars.

Perhaps one reason for the falling-off of belief in a continuance of conscious existence is to be found in the quality of life that most of us lead. There is not much in it with which, in any kind of reason, one can associate the idea of immortality.

I have always cited the decision by director Stephen Frears to shoot 'Mrs. Henderson Presents' before my script of 'The Queen' as the reason for my taking the plunge as a playwright.

I do most of my racing here in California now. There's no reason to go anywhere else except for a few of the big races.

We all find joy and radiance and a reason to move on even in the most dire of circumstances. Even in chaos and madness, there's still a beauty that comes from just the vibrancy of another human spirit.

Just pick a political story at random and read the comments. There is no logic or reason on either side - only hypocrisy and hate.

There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learned to separate them.

The '50s was the golden age of music all over the world for some crazy, 'X-File'-like reason I can't quite understand.