Morris Kline Quotes

Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.

Logic is a system whereby one may go wrong with confidence.

I know too well that these arguments from probabilities are imposters, and unless great caution is observed in the use of them, they are apt to be deceptive.

Metaphysics may be, after all, only the art of being sure of something that is not so and logic only the art of going wrong with confidence.

Logic invents as many fallacies as it detects; it is a good weapon, but as liable to be used in a bad as in a good cause.

Even if all parts of a problem seem to fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, one has to remember that the probable need not necessarily be the truth and the truth not always probable.

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.

Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge.

The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners.

Logic has made me hated in the world.

Bad reasoning as well as good reasoning is possible; and this fact is the foundation of the practical side of logic.

Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.

Logic must look after itself. In a certain sense, we cannot make mistakes in logic.

Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.

Logic can become enormously difficult, and it would undoubtedly be well to produce more assurance in its use.

We must take care not to admit as true anything, which is only probable. For when one falsity has been let in, infinite others follow.

I hope you become comfortable with the use of logic without being deceived into concluding that logic will inevitably lead you to the correct conclusion.

Logic is the art of making truth prevail.

Logic is a wonderful invention. It is so wonderful, people often mistake it for reason. Reason, however, requires sense. Logic requires only consistency.

Logic is the art of convincing us some truth.

Logic, n. The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding. The basic of logic is the syllogism, consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion - thus: Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly as one man. Minor Premise: One man can dig a post-hole in sixty seconds; Therefore- Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a post-hole in one second. This may be called syllogism arithmetical, in which, by combining logic and mathematics, we obtain a double certainty and are twice blessed.

Logic works, metaphysics contemplates.

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

I could never accept findings based almost exclusively on mathematics. It ain't ignorance that causes all the trouble in this world. It's the things people know that ain't so.