Rex Stout Quotes

It is however always important to remember that the ability to see things in their correct perspective may be, and often is, divorced from the ability to reason correctly and vice versa. That is why a man may be a very good theorist and yet talk absolute nonsense.

Emotions are the curse of logic.

Nothing requires a greater effort of thought than arguments to justify the rule of non-thought.

My intellect has always been more responsible than my emotions for how I respond to the world.

Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane.

Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one.

Keep your temper. A decision made in anger is never sound.

When the intensity of emotional conviction subsides, a man who is in the habit of reasoning will search for logical grounds in favour of the belief which he finds in himself.

Logic is one thing, the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won't work out.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

When a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

The mind is always the patsy of the heart.

A man speaking sense to himself is no madder than a man speaking nonsense not to himself.

You're chained to you reason ... Understanding is only a very small affair, so very small

What I'm saying is that I'm trying to find rational reasons to explain irrational feelings, and that's neveer a good sign.

My means are sane, my motives and my object mad.

Reason is the first victim of strong emotion.

We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is to learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.

It is impossible to get anywhere without sinning against reason.

You cannot mix up sentiment and reason.

It is easier to rationalize than it is to be rational.

The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

Just as the highest and the lowest notes are equally inaudible, so perhaps, is the greatest sense and the greatest nonsense equally unintelligible.

If one doesn't value logic, what logical argument would you invoke to prove they should value logic?