Common Sense Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old common sense quotes, common sense sayings, and common sense proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another, but above all try something. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Common sense is calculation applied to life. Henri Fr_d_ric Amiel
Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education. Victor Hugo
Common sense is the ability to see things as they are without prejudice and do things as they ought to be done without influence of any kind. Josh Billings
Common sense is an instinct given to man and enough of it is genius. Smartness is measured by the level of common sense one has, not by how much educated or knowledgeable he is. Josh Billings
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Common sense and nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult. W. Somerset Maugham
Common sense hides shame. Gaelic Proverb
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. Albert Einstein
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. Buddha
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. Robert Green
Common sense is strengthened by joy. Rebbe Nachman Of Breslov
Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done. Harriet Beecher Stowe
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next. Henry Ward Beecher
Common sense is the foundation of all authorities, of the laws themselves, and of their construction. Thomas Jefferson
Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. William James
Common sense, alas in spite of our educational institutions, is a rare commodity. Christian Nestell Bovee
Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius. George Bernard Shaw
Common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses. Leonardo da Vinci
A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning. Proverb
When unsure how to solve a problem, use your common sense. Catherine Pulsifer
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense; no one thinks he needs more of it than he already had. Descartes
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet. Ashanti Proverb
Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed. Don Wood
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. Gertrude Stein
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. Ralph Waldo Emerson
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it. Proverb
He who does not have common sense at age thirty will never have it. Proverb
The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is. Samuel Butler
Because you can't argue with all the fools in the world. It's easier to let them have their way, then trick them when they're not paying attention. Christopher Paolini
Common sense is compelled to make its way without the enthusiasm of anyone. Ed Howe
Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. George Seaton
Nice people with common sense do not make interesting characters. They only make good former spouses. Isabel Allende
Philosophy is common sense with big words. James Madison
In any war, the first casualty is common sense, and the second is free and open discussion. James Reston
Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense. Julian Casablancas
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes. Oscar Wilde
Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence. Patrick Lencioni
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. Ray Bradbury
Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it. Rene Descartes
Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have. Rene Descartes
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. Robert Green Ingersoll
If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is. Sam Rayburn
The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie. Shannon L. Alder
The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work second, stick-to-itiveness third common sense. Thomas A. Edison
The truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified. Thomas H. Huxley
Common sense would suggest that having ability, like being smart, inspires confidence. It does, but only while the going is easy. The deciding factor in life is how you handle setbacks and challenges. People with a growth mindset welcome setbacks with open arms. Travis Bradberry
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Vladimir Nabokov
The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully. Walter Lippmann
Common sense ain't common. Will Rogers
Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare. William Blake