Albert Einstein - Charles Darwin - Oscar Wilde - Rab C Nesbitt TV - W B Yeats - H L Mencken - Robert S McNamara - Bertrand Russell - Christopher Hitchens - J G Ballard - Richard Dawkins - Michael Shermer - Mary Wollstonecraft - Leo Ornstein - W E F Hagel - Albert Ellis - Vladimir Nabokov - Martin Bergmann - Jane Austen - R D Laing - W Edwards Deming - George Carlin - Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Joseph Heller - Jon Elster - Hyman P Minsky -
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. Albert Einstein
Nothing is more remarkable than the spread of scepticism or rationalism during the latter half of my life. Charles Darwin, Autobiography: Religious Belief
One is tempted to define man as a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason. Oscar Wilde
I wonder who it was defined man as a rational animal. It was the most premature definition ever given. Man is many things, but he is not rational. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
We kid ourselves we’re rational beings but what we really are is open wounds on legs. See, if you want to stay rational, don’t live. Rab C Nesbitt s7e4: Property, BBC 1998
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind. W B Yeats
Christian theology is not only opposed to the scientific spirit, it is opposed to every other form of rational thinking. H L Mencken, US editor, 1880-1956
Lesson#2: Rationality will not save us. Robert S McNamara, The Fog of War, director Errol Morris, music Philip Glass, 2003
Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality. Bertrand Russell, Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic? A Plea for Tolerance in the Face of New Dogmas, 1947
8It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. Bertrand Russell
Past and present religious atrocities have occurred not because we are evil but because it is a fact of Nature that the human species is biologically only partly rational. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p8
The Enlightenment view of mankind is a complete myth. It leads us into thinking we’re sane and rational creatures most of the time, and we’re not. J G Ballard
The battle for evolution is just a skirmish in a larger war. A larger war for rationality, for scepticism, for critical thinking, for a rational scientific view. Richard Dawkins, with Dan Dennett & Sam Harris & Ayaan Hirsi Ali, GAC Melbourne 2012
Being a sceptic just means being rational and empirical: thinking and seeing before believing. Michael Shermer
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
By the way the point between rationality and what we would call the irrational is a very difficult point to establish. There’s no specific line, as you know. Leo Ornstein
What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational. W E F Hagel, Philosophy of Right, 1821
There’s no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than women. Both sexes seem to be equally irrational. Albert Ellis
Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words. Vladimir Nabokov
The ratio between the irrational and the rational in America is very much in favour of the irrational. There is much greater unhappiness. Much more suffering. Much more. A sadder country than one would imagine from the advertisement that you get. A much more problematic country. Martin Bergmann, Army psychoanalyst 1943-1945
I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives. Jane Austen, Persuasion
Elinor agreed with it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Insanity – a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world. R D Laing
Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action. W Edwards Deming
Fuck rational thought. George Carlin, Napalm & Silly Putty
Even the most rational approach to ethics is defenceless if there isn’t the will to do what is right. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Joseph Heller
For action to be rational, the beliefs on which it is based must themselves be well founded. In turn, this requirement is divided into two parts. On the one hand, the beliefs must be unbiased with respect to the information the agent possesses; on the other hand, he must gather an optimal amount of information. Jon Elster, Reason and Rationality 2009
The ‘rational expectations’ school holds that agents do not know the future, but they formulate their expectations on the basis of a satisfactory knowledge (i.e. a theory) of how the economy functions. If we add propositions to the effect that each agent's decisions are based on its maintained theory of system behavior, that general equilibrium theory is an apt representation of the world, and that those whose behavior is consistent with this apt theory will be successful, then an equilibrium and equilibrating view of the economy emerges ... If the economy does not conform to the general equilibrium theory, if it is endogenously unstable, and if units behave accordingly, then rational expectations will exacerbate instability. Hyman P Minsky, Stabilizing the Unstable Economy