Presumption Quotes
More Presumption Quotes
presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties.
benjamin banneker— This appeared in Banneker's Almanac in 1794, and is commonly attributed to him, but originates earlier in "Reflections on different Subjects of Morality, by Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland, Duke of Lorrain and Bar" in The Universal Magazine (1765), p. 119
Brethren, understand that the gospel is a gospel which brings a present salvation; and try to feel that it is not presumption, but simply out of the very fundamental principle of it, when you are not afraid to say, "I know that my Redeemer is yonder, and I know that He loves me."
alexander maclaren— P. 526. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
Our sun is one of100 billion stars in our galaxy.Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe.It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.
wernher von braun— 1960 In the NewYork Times, 29 Apr.
It's a na|«ve domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
— 1937 Cartoon caption, in the NewYorker, 27 Mar.
It is a strong presumption that that which never has been done cannot by law be done at all.
william henry ashurst— Russell v. The Mayor of Devon (1788), 1 T. R. 673.
There is no presumption in this country that every person knows the law: it would be contrary to common sense and reason if it were so.
william henry maule— Martindale v. Falkner (1846), 2 C. B. 720, and characterised by Blackburn, J., in The Queen v. Mayor of Tewkesbury, L. R. 3 Q. B. 629.
It's a naïve domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
james thurber— Cartoon caption (1944), in which a dinner host is speaking to his guests about the wine, reproduced in The Thurber Carnival (1945).
When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule.
barbara tuchman— Admiral Jean de Vienne, quoted on p. 559
A presumption of any fact is, properly, an inferring of that fact from other facts that are known; it is an act of reasoning; and much of human knowledge on all subjects is derived from this source.
abbott, charles, 1st baron tenterden— King v. Burdett (1820), 1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 140.
In those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in such parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue; which is of itself a strong presumption that in the infancy of letters, learning and science, or in the world's non-age, those who confided in miracles, as a proof of the divine mission of the first promulgators of revelation, were imposed upon by fictitious appearances instead of miracles.
ethan allen— Reason, the Only Oracle of Man: Or, A Compenduous System of Natural Religion, Ch. VI, Section III: Rare and Wonderful Phenomena no evidence of Miracles, nor are Diabolical Spirits able to effect them, or Superstitious Traditions to confirm them, nor can Ancient Miracles prove Recent Revelations (1854)
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.
Florence Nightingale— Florence Nightingale, in Cassandra (1860).
The world, we are told, was made especially for man a presumption not supported by all the facts.
john muir— chapter 6: Cedar Keys, page 160
This vain presumption, of understanding everything, can have no other basis than never understanding anything . For anyone who had experienced just once the understanding of one single thing , thus truly tasting how knowledge is accomplished, would then recognize that of the infinity of other truths, he understands nothing .
kim stanley robinson— Ch. 15, p. 354
That the outer man is a picture of the inner, and the face an expression and revelation of the whole character, is a presumption likely enough in itself, and therefore a safe one to go on; borne out as it is by the fact that people are always anxious to see anyone who has made himself famous .... Photography ... offers the most complete satisfaction of our curiosity.
Arthur Schopenhauer— Vol. 2, Ch. 29, § 377
Education is a process by which the individual is developed into something better than he would have been without it. … The very though seems in a way the height of presumption. For one thing, it involves the premise that some human beings can be better than others.
richard weaver— “Education and the individual,” p. 43
Another doctrine repugnant to civil society, is that whatsoever a man does against his conscience, is sin; and it dependeth on the presumption of making himself judge of good and evil. For a man's conscience and his judgement are the same thing, and as the judgement, so also the conscience may be erroneous.
— Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil (1651).
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.
— Florence Nightingale, in Cassandra (1860).
It is unconscionable in a defendant, to take advantage of the apices litigandi, to turn a plaintiff round, and make him pay costs where his demand is just. Against such objections every possible presumption ought to be made, which ingenuity can suggest. How disgraceful then would it be to the administration of justice to allow Chicane to obstruct Bight; by the help of a legal fiction contrary to the help of the fact!
— Lord Mansfield, Morris v. Pugh (1761), 3 Burr. Part IV. 1243.
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did not wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power , increasing as the power increases.
— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Letter to Mandell Creighton (5 April 1887), published in Historical Essays and Studies, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1907), edited by John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, Appendix, p. 504; also in Essays on Freedom and Power (1972).
presumption has many forms; and it is worth considering, whether a great and good Being would most disapprove the presumption which expected too much from His goodness, or the presumption which dared positively to disbelieve His promise .
— William Arthur, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 553.
When truth and reason cannot be heard, then must presumption rule .
— Barbara Tuchman, quoting Admiral Jean de Vienne, A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 559.
There is no presumption in this country that every person knows the law: it would be contrary to common sense and reason if it were so.
— William Henry Maule, J., Martindale v. Falkner (1846), 2 C. B. 720, and characterised by Blackburn, J., in The Queen v. Mayor of Tewkesbury, L. R. 3 Q. B. 629.
The economic dictatorship of the monopolies and the political dictatorship of the totalitarian state are the outgrowth of the same political objectives, and the directors of both have the presumption to try to reduce all the countless expressions of social life to the mechanical tempo of the machine and to tune everything organic to the lifeless machine of the political apparatus.
— Rudolf Rocker, in Anarcho-Syndicalism (1938), Ch. 1 "Anarchism: Its Aims and Purposes"
They shall have wars and pay for their presumption.
— Act IV, scene 1, line 114.
Unless and until there is unmistakable proof to the contrary, the presumption must be that television is and will be a main factor in influencing the values and moral standards of our society.
— Pilkington Report, Great Britain, Committee on Broadcasting (1960), Report (Command paper 1753) (1962), chapter 3, p. 15, 19.
presumption has many forms; and it is worth considering, whether a great and good Being would most disapprove the presumption which expected too much from His goodness, or the presumption which dared positively to disbelieve His promise.
— William Arthur, p. 553. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
I cannot conceive how any man can have brought himself to that pitch of presumption, to consider his country as nothing but carte blanche, upon which he may scribble whatever he pleases.
Edmund Burke— Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Volume III, p. 231.
presumption means nothing more than, as stated by Lord Mansfield, the weighing of probabilities, and deciding, by the powers of common sense, on which side the truth is.
— Best, J., King v. Burdett (1820), 1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 114.
