Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

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

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

A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.

You should carefully study the Art of Reasoning, as it is what most people are very deficient in, and I know few things more disagreeable than to argue, or even converse with a man who has no idea of inductive and deductive philosophy.

The concept of logical thinking is selection and this is brought about by the processes of acceptance and rejection. Rejection is the basis of logical thinking.

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.

The first cause of Absurd conclusions I ascribe to the want of Method.

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.

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! Good gracious! What rubbish!

Logic is in the eye of the logician.

Logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-image of the world. Logic is transcendental.

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

It is by logic we prove. It is by intuition we discover.

To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning.

Persons not habituated to reason often argue absurdly, because, from particular instances, they deduce general conclusions, and extend the result of their limited experience of individuals indiscriminately to whole classes.

Logic ignores the almost, just as the sun ignores the candle.

If logic itself is created rather than being inborn, it follows that the first task of education is to form reasoning.

The Syllogism consists of propositions, propositions consist of words, words are symbols of notions. Therefore if the notions themselves (which is the root of the matter) are confused and over-hastily abstracted from the facts, there can be no firmness in the superstructure. Our only hope therefore lies in a true induction.

Mathematical reasoning may be regarded.

Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.

We can't avoid reasoning; we can only avoid doing it well.

There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically.