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Reason: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Two angels guide The path of man, both aged and yet young, As angels are, ripening through endless years, On one he leans: some call her Memory, And some Tradition; and her voice is sweet, With deep mysterious accords: the other, Floating above, holds down a lamp which streams A light divine and searching on the earth, Compelling eyes and footsteps. Memory yields, Yet clings with loving check, and shines anew, Reflecting all the rays of that bright lamp Our angel Reason holds. We had not walked But for Tradition; we walk evermore To higher paths by brightening Reason's lamp.— GEORGE ELIOT — Spanish Gypsy.
You have ravished me away by a Power I cannot resist; and yet I could resist till I saw you; and even since I have seen you I have endeavored often "to reason against the reasons of my Love."— KEATS — Letters to Fanny Braune.
To be rational is so glorious a thing, that two-legged creatures generally content themselves with the title.— LOCKE — Letter to Antony Collins, Esq.
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. II.
Indu'd With sanctity of reason.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VII.
Subdue By force, who reason for their law refuse, Right reason for their law.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VI.
Yea, marry, now it is somewhat, for now it is rhyme; before it was neither rhyme nor reason.— SIR THOS. MORE
Reason, however able, cool at best, Cares not for service, or but serves when prest, Stays till we call, and then not often near.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. III. L. 85.
Say first, of God above or man below, What can we reason but from what we know?— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. I. L. 17.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl The Feast of reason and the flow of soul.— POPE — Second Book of Horace. Satire I. L. 128.
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise; His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. I. L. 117.
But since the affairs of men rest still incertain, Let's reason with the worst that may befall. Julius Cæsar. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 96. Give you a reason on compulsion! if reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 263.
Good reasons must, of force, give place to better. Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 203. Bk. II. His reasons are two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them; and when you have them, they are not worth the search.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 16.
Quod antecedit tempus, maxima venturi supplicii pars est. The time that precedes punishment is the severest part of it.— SENECA — De Beneficiis. II. 5.
Sequitur superbos ultor a tergo deus. An avenging God closely follows the haughty.— SENECA — Hercules Furens. 385.
Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum, quod contra singulos, utilitate publicâ rependitus. Every great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good.— TACITUS — Annales. XIV. 44.
Punitis ingeniis, gliscit auctoritas. When men of talents are punished, authority is strengthened.— TACITUS — Annales. IV. 35.
Ah, miser! et si quis primo perjuria celat, Sera tamen tacitis Pœna venit pedibus. Ah, wretch! even though one may be able at first to conceal his perjuries, yet punishment creeps on, though late, with noiseless step.— TIBULLUS — Carmina. I. 9. 3.
Domina omnium et regina ratio. Reason is the mistress and queen of all things.— CICERO — Tusculanarum Disputationum.
II. 21. Nihil potest esse diuturnum cui non subest ratio. Nothing can be lasting when reason does not rule.— QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS — De Rebus
Gestis Alexandri Magni. IV. 14. 19. Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas. I will it, I so order, let my will stand for a reason.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. VI. 223.
Quid nobis certius ipsis Sensibus esse potest? quî vera ac falso notemus. What can give us more sure knowledge than our senses? How else can we distinguish between the true and the false?— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura.
I. 700. Nam et Socrati objiciunt comici, docere eum quomodo pejorem causam meliorem faciat. For comic writers charge Socrates with making the worse appear the better reason.— QUINTILIAN — De Institutione Oratoria.
La parfaite raison fuit toute extremité, Et veut que l'on soit sage avec sobriété. All extremes does perfect reason flee, And wishes to be wise quite soberly.— MOLIÈRE — Le Misanthrope. I. 1.
La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure. The reasoning of the strongest is always the best.— LA FONTAINE — Fables. I. 10.
Mais la raison n'est pas ce qui règle l'amour. But it is not reason that governs love.— MOLIÈRE — Le Misanthrope. I. 1.
On aime sans raison, et sans raison l'on hait. We love without reason. and without reason we hate.— REGNARD — Les Folies Amoureuses.