Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not Reason.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1734
Reason is the newest and the rarest thing in human life, the most delicate child of human
history.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Man is a Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. […] In truth, man is incurably foolish.
—Mark Twain, 1939
A provision of endless apparatus, a bustle of infinite enquiry and research, or even the mere
mechanical labor of copying, may be employed, to evade and shuffle off real labor - the real
labor of thinking.
—Joshua Reynolds, 1784
7
People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions, and conclusions are
not always pleasant.
—Helen Keller, 1913
Most people would die sooner than think - in fact, they do so.
—Bertrand Russell, 1925
Every thought is an exception from the general rule that people do not think.
—Paul Valéry, 1941
Human beings are seventy percent water, and with some the rest is collagen.
—Martin Mull
8
Fools have been and always will be the majority of mankind.
—Denis Diderot, 1777
The fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882
***
Nothing is so firmly believed, as what we least know.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1595
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the
chief occupation of mankind.
—H. L. Mencken, 1949
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be
false.
—Paul Valéry, 1943
7
Thomas A. Edison liked this quip so much that he had its shorter paraphrase posted around his
factory.
8
As quoted, without a date, by several collections, starting not later than 1994.
142
On Human Condition
—Benjamin Franklin, 1734
Reason is the newest and the rarest thing in human life, the most delicate child of human
history.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Man is a Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. […] In truth, man is incurably foolish.
—Mark Twain, 1939
A provision of endless apparatus, a bustle of infinite enquiry and research, or even the mere
mechanical labor of copying, may be employed, to evade and shuffle off real labor - the real
labor of thinking.
—Joshua Reynolds, 1784
7
People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions, and conclusions are
not always pleasant.
—Helen Keller, 1913
Most people would die sooner than think - in fact, they do so.
—Bertrand Russell, 1925
Every thought is an exception from the general rule that people do not think.
—Paul Valéry, 1941
Human beings are seventy percent water, and with some the rest is collagen.
—Martin Mull
8
Fools have been and always will be the majority of mankind.
—Denis Diderot, 1777
The fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882
***
Nothing is so firmly believed, as what we least know.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1595
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the
chief occupation of mankind.
—H. L. Mencken, 1949
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be
false.
—Paul Valéry, 1943
7
Thomas A. Edison liked this quip so much that he had its shorter paraphrase posted around his
factory.
8
As quoted, without a date, by several collections, starting not later than 1994.
142
On Human Condition