The question of common sense ...

The question of common sense is always: \'what is it good for?\' -
 a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage.
The question of common sense is always: 'what is it good for?' - a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage.
 James Russell Lowell

More phrases

Being self-made is a state of mind, and once you put that mentality to work, your success will come.
 Dave East
A lot of people change for good. Some people just fall off. Just trying to progress in anything, no matter what you're doing, I feel like any progression you make... some people aren't gonna be around you that were around you.
 Dave East
What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.
Don't settle in the land of barely enough. That is where you are, it is not who you are. That's your location, it's not your identity. No matter what it looks like, have an abundant mentality.
Everything in your life, every experience, every relationship is a mirror of the mental pattern that is going on inside of you.

Quotes from the same author

It is the rooted instinct in men to admire what is better and more beautiful than themselves.
 James Russell Lowell
That best academy, a mother's knee.
 James Russell Lowell
A friendship counting nearly forty years is the finest kind of shade-tree I know.
 James Russell Lowell
There is something magnificent in having a country to love.
 James Russell Lowell
A woman's love Is mighty, but a mother's heart is weak, And by its weakness overcomes.
 James Russell Lowell