#reasoning

Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately. Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh--not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court. ↗

— Mark Twain

#cats #dogs #doves #foxes #geese

It frequently happens that two persons, reasoning right on a mechanical subject, think alike and invent the same thing without any communication with each other. ↗

— Oliver Evans

#any #communication #each #frequently #happens

Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. ↗

— William Cowper

#every step #his #his way #instinct #known

O that unbelievers would learn of faithful Abraham, and believe whatever is revealed from God, though they cannot fully comprehend it! Abraham knew God commanded him to offer up his son, and therefore believed, notwithstanding carnal reasoning might suggest may objections. ↗

— George Whitefield

#believe #believed #cannot #carnal #commanded

For there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers. For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ. ↗

— Christopher Smart

#flowers #peculiarly #poetry #reasoning #sound

... insanity is never reasonable. ↗

— E.A. Bucchianeri

#insane #insane-world #insanity #it-s-a-mad-world #life-experience

Alas! with all her reasoning, she found, that to retentive feelings eight years may be little more than nothing. ↗

— Jane Austen

#first-love #reasoning #time #love

All correct reasoning is a grand system of tautologies, but only God can make direct use of that fact. ↗

— Herbert Simon

#direct #fact #god #grand #make

Memorization has gotten a bad rap recently. Lots of students, and even some educators, say that being able to reason is more important than knowing facts; and besides, why bother committing things to memory when you've got Google? My response to this - after I've finished inwardly groaning - is that of course reasoning is important, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know facts as well. It's not like you have to choose between one or the other. Besides, facts give you a foundation on which to reason about things. ↗

— Stefanie Weisman

#memorization #memorizing #reasoning #education

Here is a truth that most teachers will not tell you, even if they know it: Good training is a continual friend and a solace; it helps you now, and assures you of help in the future. Good education is a continual pain in the neck, and assures you always of more of the same. ↗

— Richard Mitchell

#reasoning #thinking #training #vocation #education