Careful and correct use of language is a powerful aid to straight thinking, for putting into words precisely what we mean necessitates getting our own minds quite clear on what we mean.
William Ian Beardmore Beveridge, Quoted in: Introduction to Logic, by Irving M. Copi and Carl Cohen.
There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.
Daniel Dennett.
Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have.
Discours de la Methode (1637)
The distinctively human function is reason existing for the sake of beholding the spectacle of the universe. Hence the truly human end is the fullest possible of this distinctive human prerogative.
Democracy and Education (1916)
Every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly; and where it fails them, they cry out, "It is a matter of faith, and above reason."
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).
The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion, but rather to know it.
Andre Maurois, quoted in Frederic B. Wilcox, A Little Book of Aphorisms (1947).
History is full of religious wars; but, we must take care to observe, it was not the multiplicity of religions that produced these wars, it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which thought she had the power of governing.
Baron de Montesquieu, Persian Letters (1721).
There is no more dangerous error than that of mistaking the effect for the cause: I call it the real corruption of reason.
Twilight of the Idols
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.
Bertrand Russell, "The Philosophy of Logical Atomism".
We select, pattern and interpret the flux of events in the attempt to make life meaningful and few of us suspect how deeply entrenched, and arbitrary, these rules are. We impose them on the world so that what we see conforms to what we have been led to see. And one of the crucial factors in our construction of this reality is language.
Man-Made Language (1980)
Reasoning with a drunkard is like
Going under water with a torch to seek for a drowning man.
Tiruvalluvar, The Sacred Kural.
Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.
Richard Chenevix Trench, On the Study of Words (1858).
Tyrants would have cause to tremble if reason were to become the rule of duty in any of the relations of life, for the light might spread till perfect day appeared. And when it did appear, how would men smile at the sight of the bugbears at which they started during the night of ignorance, or the twilight of timid inquiry?
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
This site serves as an archive of quotations dealing with religion and philosophy. Specific topics covered include, but are not limited to: God, faith, reason, skepticism, atheism, agnosticism, fundamentalism, extremism. The quotes are chosen on the basis of my finding them interesting - regardless of whether I agree with them or not. This is by no means an exhaustive collection, although it does grow as I add quotes regularly.
Suggestions? Feel free to email me with quotations you think could be added. I can't guarantee that I will respond to each message and, please, be sure to include a full citation with each quote. There are a lot of sites out there that have many quotes without citations, thus preventing readers from being able to trace the authorship. I have very few of those and don't want any more, if I can help it.
Copyright © 2003 - 2004 by Austin Reed Cline