Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.

Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.

Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words

Talk of mysteries! Think of our life in nature—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?

Look at the stars and not down at your own feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.

Common sense is the very antipodes of science.

Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.

People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg crackles as if she had laid an asteroid.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

A good joke is the one ultimate and sacred thing which cannot be criticized.

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men—the other 999 follow women.