--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every man feels that perception gives him…" description: "\"Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of r..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbe/thomas-reid-22153_belief_every-man-feels-that-perception-gives-hi_315036.jpg" --- # Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible… ![“Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. When philosophers have wearied themselves and their readers with their speculations upon…” quote by Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbe/thomas-reid-22153_belief_every-man-feels-that-perception-gives-hi_315036.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbe/thomas-reid-22153_belief_every-man-feels-that-perception-gives-hi_315036.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbe/thomas-reid-22153_belief_every-man-feels-that-perception-gives-hi_315036.jpg) > “Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. When philosophers have wearied themselves and their readers with their speculations upon this subject, they can neither strengthen this belief, nor weaken it; nor can they shew how it is produced. It puts the philosopher and the peasant upon a level; and neither of them can give any other reason for believing his senses, than that he finds it impossible for him to do otherwise.” [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Perception creates a strong, immediate belief in what we see, independent of reasoning, and philosophers cannot alter this conviction. **In simple terms:** We trust our senses because we cannot imagine otherwise. Key Takeaway Acknowledge the limits of rational proof over sensory belief. Themes perception belief philosophy epistemology Mood reflective skeptical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - daily decision making - scientific observation - legal testimony - personal relationships Key Concepts empiricism subjective experience skepticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify sensory claims? - Can reason ever fully overcome perceptual bias? A Different Perspective Perception can be deceiving, leading to false certainty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Believing Senses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believing-senses-2981536/) [Consequence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consequence/) [Effects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effects/) [Every man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-man/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Existence Perceives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence-perceives-2981535/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Impossible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impossible/) [Invincible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invincible/) [Levels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/levels/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Peasants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peasants/) [Perceive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceive/) [Perceives Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceives-belief-2981534/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Perception Philosophers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception-philosophers-2981533/) [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Reasoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reasoning/) [Senses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/senses/) [Speculation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speculation/) [Subjects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjects/) ## Related quotes > [“You'll be sorry some day. Why don't you ever understand what I'm trying to tell you: it's with your six sense that you're fooled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/you-ll-be-sorry-some-day-why-don-t-you-ever-understand-what-i-m/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [A lot of young people think they're invincible, but the truth is young people are knuckleheads... Now young people can get insurance for as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-obama/a-lot-of-young-people-think-they-re-invincible-but-the-truth-is-young/) [Michelle Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-obama/) > [It's Sanjit. It's a Hindu name. It means 'invincible.'" "That's great," Lana said. "Invincible. I can't be vinced." "That's not even a word," Lana…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-grant/it-s-sanjit-it-s-a-hindu-name-it-means-invincible-that-s-great-lana/) [Michael Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-grant/) > [Khamzat was one of the trolls tweeting Luque knocking me out, so I have no respect for him. I'm down to fight him. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belal-muhammad/khamzat-was-one-of-the-trolls-tweeting-luque-knocking-me-out-so-i/) [Belal Muhammad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/belal-muhammad/) > [“If you think you don't have enemies, then they have won.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/if-you-think-you-don-t-have-enemies-then-they-have-won/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [Any person without invincible prejudice who had the same experience would come to the same broad conclusion, viz., that things hitherto held impossible do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/any-person-without-invincible-prejudice-who-had-the-same-experience/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [...full of God's thoughts, a place of peace and safety amid the most exalted grandeur and enthusiastic action, a new song, a place of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/full-of-god-s-thoughts-a-place-of-peace-and-safety-amid-the-most/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [ I would say a great song \[is where\] you like everything in the song. The lyrics move you, the beat makes you want to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aino-jawo/i-would-say-a-great-song-is-where-you-like-everything-in-the-song-the/) [Aino Jawo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aino-jawo/) > [There and then, sitting beside her and within the strength of my adoration, I felt invincible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hisham-matar/there-and-then-sitting-beside-her-and-within-the-strength-of-my/) [Hisham Matar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hisham-matar/) > [One of the principal reasons why so many fail to get what they want is because they do not definitely know what they want,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-d-larson/one-of-the-principal-reasons-why-so-many-fail-to-get-what-they-want/) [Christian D. Larson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-d-larson/) > [You are only as invincible as your smallest weakness, and those are tiny indeed - the length of a sleeping baby's eyelash, the span…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/you-are-only-as-invincible-as-your-smallest-weakness-and-those-are/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/oppression-that-is-clearly-inexorable-and-invincible-does-not-give/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [I do not say that, when brought to the test, I shall be invincible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-otis/i-do-not-say-that-when-brought-to-the-test-i-shall-be-invincible/) [James Otis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-otis/) > [Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional WWF wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-feig/many-republicans-have-always-reminded-me-of-professional-wwf/) [Paul Feig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-feig/) ## More by Thomas Reid > [The want of faith, as well as faith itself, is best shewn by works. If a sceptic avoid the fire as much as those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/the-want-of-faith-as-well-as-faith-itself-is-best-shewn-by-works-if-a/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [We find sects and parties in most branches of science; and disputes which are carried on from age to age, without being brought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/we-find-sects-and-parties-in-most-branches-of-science-and-disputes/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [Every conjecture we can form with regard to the works of God has as little probability as the conjectures of a child with regard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/every-conjecture-we-can-form-with-regard-to-the-works-of-god-has-as/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/when-we-contemplate-the-world-of-epicurus-and-conceive-the-universe/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [It is a question of fact, whether the influence of motives be fixed by laws of nature, so that they shall always have the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/it-is-a-question-of-fact-whether-the-influence-of-motives-be-fixed-by/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [The rules of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/the-rules-of-navigation-never-navigated-a-ship-the-rules-of/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words. To this chiefly it is owing that we find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/there-is-no-greater-impediment-to-the-advancement-of-knowledge-than/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [But when, in the first setting out, he takes it for granted without proof, that distinctions found in the structure of all languages, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/but-when-in-the-first-setting-out-he-takes-it-for-granted-without/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [For, until the wisdom of men bear some proportion to the wisdom of God, their attempts to find out the structure of his works,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/for-until-the-wisdom-of-men-bear-some-proportion-to-the-wisdom-of-god/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [For the perception of the beautiful we have the term "taste"--a metaphor taken from that which is passive in the body and transferred to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/for-the-perception-of-the-beautiful-we-have-the-term-taste-a-metaphor/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [And, if we have any evidence that the wisdom which formed the plan is in the man, we have the very same evidence, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/and-if-we-have-any-evidence-that-the-wisdom-which-formed-the-plan-is/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [must acknowledge, that to act properly is much more valuable than to think justly or reason acutely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/must-acknowledge-that-to-act-properly-is-much-more-valuable-than-to/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [I sit in my loft with the haves and look out at the have-nots - the bottom of the bottom - and I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/i-sit-in-my-loft-with-the-haves-and-look-out-at-the-have-nots-the/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [ \[I\]f a man bred to the seafaring life, and accustomed to think and talk only of matters relating to navigation, enters into discourse upon… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/i-f-a-man-bred-to-the-seafaring-life-and-accustomed-to-think-and-talk/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [It is the invaluable merit of the great Basle mathematician Leonard Euler, to have freed the analytical calculus from all geometric bounds, and thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/it-is-the-invaluable-merit-of-the-great-basle-mathematician-leonard/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) [Explore all 28 Thomas Reid quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) ## More Belief quotes > [“Cine a ucis stelele? Cine a surpat drumul spre viitor al celor din morminte?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ionel-teodoreanu/cine-a-ucis-stelele-cine-a-surpat-drumul-spre-viitor-al-celor-din/) [Ionel Teodoreanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ionel-teodoreanu/) > [“MIND & GRIND Self-belief and hard work can propel you past more talented peers”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamil-ali/mind-grind-self-belief-and-hard-work-can-propel-you-past-more/) [Kamil Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamil-ali/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [It took me 20 years of hard training to get the physique I have today. what you need is what i had - BELIEF…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/branch-warren/it-took-me-20-years-of-hard-training-to-get-the-physique-i-have-today/) [Branch Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/branch-warren/) > [“Here is a fundamental difference between the man of faith and the man of unbelief. The unbeliever is 'of the world', judges everything by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-w-pink/here-is-a-fundamental-difference-between-the-man-of-faith-and-the-man/) [Arthur W. Pink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-w-pink/) > [“She herself vacillated when it came to belief. She did not particularly believe in God. Or, rather, she didn't believe in a particular God.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allegra-goodman/she-herself-vacillated-when-it-came-to-belief-she-did-not/) [Allegra Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allegra-goodman/) > [Let us remember that every worldview-not just Christianity's-must give an explanation or an answer for evil and suffering...this is not just a problem distinctive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/let-us-remember-that-every-worldview-not-just-christianity-s-must/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [“Rigid traditions capture souls prisons of spiritual thought man’s religion has captured a god grown too small and very weak.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-w-earle/rigid-traditions-capture-souls-prisons-of-spiritual-thought-man-s/) [David W Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-w-earle/) > [We can find common qualities and common values that have made Britain the country it is. Our belief in tolerance and liberty which shines…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-brown/we-can-find-common-qualities-and-common-values-that-have-made-britain/) [Gordon Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-brown/) > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [In business, as in politics, it is never easy to go against the beliefs and attitudes held by the majority. The businessman who moves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-paul-getty/in-business-as-in-politics-it-is-never-easy-to-go-against-the-beliefs/) [J. Paul Getty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-paul-getty/) > [There's no greatest moment in the arts. It's a life; it's a continuity thing. You can't have a great moment because it's spiritual. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leroy-neiman/there-s-no-greatest-moment-in-the-arts-it-s-a-life-it-s-a-continuity/) [LeRoy Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leroy-neiman/) > [To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-branden/to-preserve-an-unclouded-capacity-for-the-enjoyment-of-life-is-an/) [Nathaniel Branden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-branden/) [Browse all 10,268 Belief quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. 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