Ever find anyone who said, "hey, this is just what I think, I don't need a reason," or "it's just common sense that...[fill in the blank]?" No? Well, you need to get out more.
Most of the interminable debates that roil the world are based on fear, anger, hatred, bigotry, ego, etc. all garbed in the moral superiority of common sense and reason.
I collect quotes, and it seems a lot deal with just this issue, so I'll let others finish this post.
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." Sir Winston Churchill
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much." Yogi Berra
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." William James
"When ideas fail, words come in very handy." - Goethe
"Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she has laid an asteroid." Mark Twain
"Let us make a special effort to learn to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation." Miss Manners (Judith Martin)
"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." Gertrude Stein
"In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane." Oscar Wilde
"The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do." B.F. Skinner
"The public has an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, suppliers their demands." Oscar Wilde
"Logic is like the sword: those who appeal to it shall perish by it." Samuel Butler
"Man is a rational animal who always loses his tempter when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason." Orson Welles
"Many people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying them." J. Harold Smith
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Article comments
1 - Guppusmaximus
I'll begin this debate,my friend...It all depends on the subject matter.
"First, take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the little speck out of someone else's eye." - Jesus Christ
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.."
-Dr. Martin Luther King
2 - gonzo marx
too easy....
Judge not, lest ye be Judged
or...
let he who is without Sin, cast the first stone
nuff said?
Excelsior!
3 - Dave Nalle
I think the second to last quote, from Orson Welles is the best of the lot. It certainly reflects my observations. Everyone wants to think their rational, but most of the time they're just rationalizing their emotional opinions.
Dave
4 - SFC SKI
Far too many people react and respond out of emotion, rather than logic. Being just as human as anyone else, I recently chose to absent myself many from the debates here rather than get emotionally involved.
Great quotes, good post.
5 - Mark Schannon
Actually, one of my favorite quotes wasn't relevant to the post: "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets."
In terms of whether we're rational or not, there's a lot new evidence from neurology and psychology that our brains are wired in such a way that we can't separate reason from emotion--which explains a lot!
Having done crisis management for way too many years, I often find my first task is to get my corporate clients to acknowledge their own emotions and how they affect their decision making.
Of course, that doesn't apply to me...or people who agree with me.
In Jamesons Veritas
6 - Dave Nalle
Plus, Gwen Verdon was really hot in those tights. Talk about stirring up emotion.
Here's my quote for the day, from Rousseau:
"Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse. As soon as any man says of the affairs of the state 'what does it matter to me?' The state may be given up for lost."
Very appropriate for the current hot issue of campaign finance reform.
Dave
7 - Eric Berlin
Interesting stuff, Mark. I like the Kierkegaard quote, possibly because it reminds me of the wonderfully subversive Devo lyric:
Freedom of choice is what you got
Freedom from choice is what you want
Think the whip-weilding fellas were Kierkegaard fans?
8 - Mark Schannon
Eric, I missed it, what "whip-wielding fellas?"
Dave N, love the Rousseau quote. I'm adding it to my collection. Particularly, As soon as any man says of the affairs of the state 'what does it matter to me?' The state may be given up for lost. I know too many people of all political persuasions who have "given up" and worry only about themselves, family and friends.