COMMON SENSE

 

          COMMON SENSE

Common sense is defined as “the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions.“ Another good definition considers it as “knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument. “ Almost every human being, unless he is a blockhead is expected to possess it.

Some synonyms of common sense are : good sense, intelligence, astuteness, practicality, judiciousness, wisdom, shrewdness and level-headedness.

The English author Horace Walpole (1661-1724) said : “To act with common sense according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy is to do one’s duties , take the world as it comes , submit respectfully to one’s lot; bless the goodness that has given so much happiness with it, whatever it is; and despise affectation.”

Quoting another author, the scholar and author Frederick William Farrar (1831 -1903) says : “Knowledge without common sense is folly; without method, it is waste; without kindness, it is fanaticism; without religion, it is death. “ “ But with common sense, it is wisdom; with method, it is power; with charity, it is beneficence; with religion it is virtue, and life and peace.”

Finally, a Persian proverb: One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.

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G.R.Kanwal

4 July 2024