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About this quote

What does it mean?
Reason is compared to a misleading light that distracts from natural sense and perception.
In plain terms
Reason often leads us away from what we naturally sense.
What can you take from it?
Trust your senses as much as your reasoning.

Where it applies

  • making decisions
  • learning
  • thinking

Putting it to work

  • balance logic and instinct
  • check assumptions

Questions to consider

  • Do you trust senses?
  • Is logic always reliable?

Another view

Reason often corrects sensory errors.

More from John, 2nd Earl of Rochester Wilmot

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  2. Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain, Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain, Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down Into Doub…

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  3. We have a pretty witty king, Whose word no man relies on; He never said a foolish thing, Nor ever did a wise one.

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