Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Clever men are good, but they are not the best.

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.

There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.

Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.

If a man can have only one kind of sense, let him have common sense. If he has that and uncommon sense too, he is not far from genius.

Insight essentially means being able to see things other people are not able to see. This is the hallmark of leadership.

Why is it that common sense is seldom common practice?

We all have a limited amount of good judgment.

My biggest skill is common sense. I understand life.

We've lost common sense.

My whole life, I've been told to 'wait my turn' and 'know my place.'

Common sense, proportionality, and judgment are the skills we must seek in those we choose to regulate our lives.

Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint.

Few sometimes may know, when thousands err.

Much learning does not teach sense.

Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven.

It is not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or good; but well reading of a few.

Thin-lipped wisdom spoke at her from the worn chair, hinted at prudence, quoted from that book of cowardice whose author apes the name of common sense.

It's always better to be wise than to be smart.

Knowing what is right does not make a sagacious man.

I may be daft but I'm no' stupid!

Great good nature without prudence is a great misfortune.

There are people who are so full of common sense that they haven't the slightest cranny left for their own sense.

Wisdom and courage make mutual contributions to greatness.

For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique.