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It is folly to expect men to do all that they may reasonably be expected to do.
Richard Whately
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Richard Whately
Age: 76 †
Born: 1787
Born: February 1
Died: 1863
Died: October 8
Economist
Philosopher
Priest
Theologian
London
England
Reasonably
Folly
Expected
Expect
May
Men
More quotes by Richard Whately
Some persons follow the dictates of their conscience only in the same sense in which a coachman may be said to follow the horses he is driving.
Richard Whately
Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.
Richard Whately
As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its deficiencies.
Richard Whately
It is a remarkable circumstance in reference to cunning persons that they are often deficient not only in comprehensive, far-sighted wisdom, but even in prudent, cautious circumspection.
Richard Whately
Manners are one of the greatest engines of influence ever given to man.
Richard Whately
Some men's reputation seems like seed-wheat, which thrives best when brought from a distance.
Richard Whately
A fanatic, either, religious or political, is the subject of strong delusions.
Richard Whately
To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
Richard Whately
It is also important to guard against mistaking for good-nature what is properly good-humor,--a cheerful flow of spirits and easy temper not readily annoyed, which is compatible with great selfishness.
Richard Whately
No one complains of the rules of Grammar as fettering Language because it is understood that correct use is not founded on Grammar, but Grammar on correct use. A just system of Logic or of Rhetoric is analogous, in this respect, to Grammar.
Richard Whately
It may be worth noticing as a curious circumstance, when persons past forty before they were at all acquainted form together a very close intimacy of friendship. For grafts of old wood to take, there must be a wonderful congeniality between the trees.
Richard Whately
In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed, we see most dimly the objects which are close around us.
Richard Whately
To follow imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted traditions, in order to avoid erring in our own judgment, is but to exchange one danger for another.
Richard Whately
When men have become heartily wearied of licentious anarchy, their eagerness has been proportionately great to embrace the opposite extreme of rigorous despotism.
Richard Whately
That is suitable to a man, in point of ornamental expense, not which he can afford to have, but which he can afford to lose.
Richard Whately
Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze, but breaks not in the tempest.
Richard Whately
Of metaphors, those generally conduce most to energy or vivacity of style which illustrate an intellectual by a sensible object.
Richard Whately
Every instance of a man's suffering the penalty of the law is an instance of the failure of that penalty in effecting its purpose, which is to deter.
Richard Whately
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry gets the best of the argument.
Richard Whately
Galileo probably would have escaped persecution if his discoveries could have been disproved.
Richard Whately