Ralph Emerson was born May 25, 1803. Emerson was a well known poet who led the Transcendentalists movement during the 19th century. In the quote, "Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes", I completely understood where Emerson was coming from. There are so many smart people in the world, but not everyone has common sense. In fact, in some cases, an average person could have more "real world" sense than a college graduate. It's almost as if people with more "book sense" are shadowed or blocked from day to day scenarios. Personally, I think this idea still applies today because everyday we at least TRY to use common sense.
This quote is saying that it does not take much to have common sense. The road to being a genius is based a lot on common sense. For example, a big problem in the United States today is drinking and driving. It is common sense not to do so, and if everyone else had common sense, automobile deaths would be cut in half. At the end of the day though, not everyone has the logic to think as if they are geniuses in the world today.
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| "The Thinker" |
Below is a video from a personal life coach briefly explaining common sense using Emerson's quote:
