quotations about logic
The fact that logic cannot satisfy us awakens an almost insatiable hunger for the irrational.
A. N. WILSON
book review, The Guardian, Sep. 30, 1989
He had a better mind and a more rigorous temperament than me; he thought logically, and then acted on the conclusion of logical thought. Whereas most of us, I suspect, do the opposite: we make an instinctive decision, then build up an infrastructure of reasoning to justify it. And call the result common sense.
JULIAN BARNES
The Sense of an Ending
Logic may be conceived as ruling out what is absolutely impossible, and thus determining the field of what in the absence of empirical knowledge is abstractly possible.
MORRIS F. COHEN
An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method
Logic is a very beautiful thing. As long as it is not abused.
EUGENE IONESCO
Rhinoceros
An argument can be logically valid, but unsound in that it contains a false premise and, therefore, leads to a false conclusion (e.g., Scientists are smart; smart people do not make mistakes; therefore, scientists do not make mistakes).
SAM HARRIS
The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values
Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish! How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?
E. M. FORSTER
Aspects of the Novel
The machine has no feelings, it feels no fear and no hope ... it operates according to the pure logic of probability. For this reason I assert that the robot perceives more accurately than man.
MAX FRISCH
Homo Faber: A Report
But that's men all over.... Poor dears, they can't help it. They haven't got logical minds.
DOROTHY L. SAYERS
Busman's Honeymoon
Logic is an enemy of wit and humor (Mr. Spock's face was always an impassive mask); logic makes us dull and pedantic (Mr. Spock always spoke in a monotone); logic presupposes a simple-minded, black-and-white, yes-no conception of the world.
JOHN M. DOLAN
Inference and Imagination
Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival.
FRANK HERBERT
Chapterhouse: Dune
Aristotle can be regarded as the father of logic. But his logic is too scholastic, full of subtleties, and fundamentally has not been of much value to the human understanding. It is a dialectic and an organon for the art of disputation.
IMMANUEL KANT
Lectures on Logic
Reason itself is fallible, and this fallibility must find a place in our logic.
NICOLA ABBAGNANO
attributed, Memorable Quotations: Philosophers of Western Civilization
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
DOUGLAS ADAMS
The Salmon of Doubt
Logic hasn't wholly dispelled the society of witches and prophets and sorcerers and soothsayers.
RAYMOND F. JONES
The Non-Statistical Man
His was not a small mind bothered by logic and consistency.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
Stranger in a Strange Land
Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken in too large quantities.
LORD DUNSANY
"Weeds & Moss", My Ireland
Logic is like the sword--those who appeal to it shall perish by it.
SAMUEL BUTLER
The Notebooks of Samuel Butler
Some ideas are not born of logic and good sense. They are made of clouds and cobwebs. They sprout from nowhere and feed on excitement, sprinkled with adventure juice and the sweet flavor of the forbidden. The psyche moves from the realms of the ordinary and takes a delicate step towards the unknown. We know we shouldn't and that is exactly why we do.
BRIGID LOWRY
Guitar Highway Rose
Logic helps you learn how to be precise and rigorous in any area of study.
GREG RESTALL
Logic: An Introduction
The man who has faith in logic is always cuckolded by reality.
ALEXANDER THEROUX
Darconville's Cat