Thomas Reid Quotes
Thomas Reid was a Scottish philosopher and the founder of the Scottish school of Common Sense. He developed his philosophy in critical reaction to the empiricist tradition of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, arguing that their theory of ideas led inevitably to a skepticism that violated the convictions on which all human action depends. The quotes below are attributed to Thomas Reid, organized by topic.
Browse Thomas Reid by topic
Thomas Reid on Freedom
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“If there is no liberty, there is no morality.”
Thomas Reid on Knowledge
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words.”
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“All reasoning must be from first principles; and for first principles no other reason can be given but this, that, by the constitution of our nature, we are under a necessity of assenting to them.”
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“Common sense is the foundation of all reasoning and of all science.”
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“It is folly to attempt to confound first principles with conclusions.”
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“To Monsieur Eiffel the Engineer, the brave builder of so gigantic and original a specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu.”
When Thomas Edison visited the Eiffel Tower during the 1889 World's Fair , he signed the guestbook with this message, as quoted in The Tallest Tower by Joseph Harris, p. 95 -
“During all those years of experimentation and research, I never once made a discovery. All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention, pure and simple. I would construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. Then it would be discarded at once and another theory evolved. This was the only possible way for me to work out the problem. … I speak ”
On his years of research in developing the electric light bulb, as quoted in "Talks with Edison" by George Parsons Lathrop in Harper's magazine , Vol. 80 (February 1890), p. 425. -
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have, fully decided that a result is worth getting, I go about it, and make trial after trial, until it comes.”
Quoted by Theodore Dreiser in A Photographic Talk with Edison , Success magazine (February 1898) -
“X-rays ... I am afraid of them. I stopped experimenting with them two years ago, when I came near to losing my eyesight and Dally, my assistant practically lost the use of both of his arms.”
Quoted in 'Edison Fears Hidden Perils of the X-Rays', New York World (3 Aug 1903), 1
Thomas Reid on Nature
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“Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start where the last man left off. … All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention pure and simple. As quoted in Makers of the Modern World : The Lives of Ninety-two Writers, Artists, Scientists, Statesmen, Inventors, Philosophers, Composers, and Other Creators who Formed the Pattern of Our Century (1955) by Louis Untermeyer , p. 227”
During all those years of experimentation and research, I never once made a discovery. All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention, pure and simple. I would construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. Then it would be discarded at once and another theory evolved. This was the only possible way for me to work out the problem. … I speak
Thomas Reid on Time
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“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
This has been reprinted many times with slight variations on the wording; it is part of a much larger quote directly from Edison published in 1903:
Things actually not said by Thomas Reid
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Thomas Reid but are in fact from someone else. Did Thomas Reid say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Thomas Reid say this? No.
“There is time for everything.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This expression greatly predates any use of it by Edison. George Head used it in A Home Tour Through the Manufacturing Districts of England in the Summer of 1835 (1836), p. 198, in which he states: If time be judiciously employed, there is time for everything. | There is also an entry in the Bible (
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Did Thomas Reid say this? No.
“I am much less interested in what is called God's word than in God's deeds. All bibles are man-made.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: John Burroughs, in "Religious Contrasts : Letters of Pantheist and a Churchman", in The Atlantic Monthly , Vol. 128, No. 4 (October 1921), p. 520