The Art of Common Sense
Wilferd A. Peterson

  

Common sense is a personal compass for guidance around the rocks and shoals of life.

Common sense is not based on theory; it is not a hypothesis.  It is life acted out, it is discoveries made in the crucible of existence.  It is the tried and tested experiences of humankind.

Common sense sits in judgment on the centuries, on every science, every religion, every art, every government.  It is based on what has been proved true, sound and practical.

Common sense is the voice of the ages.  It is the distilled essence of what people have learned about life as expressed in the proverbs and maxims of all nations.  "That person is happy who lives on his or her own labor," observed the Egyptian.  "Just scale and full measure injure no person," recorded the Chinese.  "Examine what is said and not who speaks," said the Arabian.  "An idle brain is the devil's workshop," wrote the English. . . .

Common sense is pragmatic.  It is what William James called "the cash value of an idea."  It is a method that works, a truth that can be applied.

Common sense is the common denominator of intelligence, the key to right answers.

Common sense recognizes the utter senselessness of war, the irrationality of using death, suffering and destruction as a way of settling disputes.

Common sense observes that crime does not pay, that murder will be found out, that the law of compensation works relentlessly and cannot be escaped.

Common sense is the rock on which every enduring institution and organization must be built.

Common sense is the law of God written into the nature of the universe.  It is the sum total of the workable findings of people in their long evolution toward the light.

Common sense is dynamic, not static.  It changes as time goes on.

The art of common sense is applying the best wisdom we know today based on all our yesterdays.

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When the philosopher's argument becomes tedious, complicated,
and opaque, it is usually a sign that he or she is attempting to prove
as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense.

Edward Abbey

  

       
    

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