“It is natural for us to seek a Standard of Taste; a rule, by which the various sentiments of men may be reconciled; at least, a decision, afforded, confirming one sentiment, and condemning another.”

“You are like all cruel men, sentimental; you are like all sentimental men; squeamish.”

Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017) British science fiction author

“I cannot afford the luxury of sentiment, mine must be cold logic.”

George Marshall (1880–1959) US military leader, Army Chief of Staff

“The marchers claimed to express their extreme disapproval that the Prime Minister is an Indo-Fijian … one may well ask how they reconcile their repugnant racist sentiment on the weekday with their purported devotion to the Biblical precept of the brotherhood of Man on Sunday.”

Vijay R. Singh (1931–2006) Fijian politician

“The measure of action is the sentiment from which it proceeds. The greatest action may easily be one of the most private circumstance.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“Good taste is either that which agrees with my taste or that which subjects itself to the rule of reason. From this we can see how useful it is to employ reason in seeking out the laws of taste.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

“Visual delight, sentiment, and exploration become one in the new appreciation of landscape and Nature.”

Charles Rosen (1927–2012) American pianist and writer on music

“My father was a deeply sentimental man. And like all sentimental men, he was also very cruel.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

“The serious revolutionary, like the serious artist, can't afford to lead a sentimental or self-deceiving life.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

“But if any other course, in any one's opinion, be better than this, let him, even though he be a private soldier, boldly give us his sentiments; for the safety, which we all seek, is a general concern.”

Xenophon book Anabasis