Common sense
Overview
Merriam-Webster
Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language .Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a...
as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" (in this view) equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as, "the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way".
Whichever definition is used, identifying particular items of knowledge as "common sense" is difficult.
Quotations
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Art (1841)
On dit quelquefois: "Le sens commun est fort rare."
People sometimes say: "Common sense is quite rare."
Le bon sens est la chose du monde la mieux partagée, car chacun pense en être bien pourvu.
Translation: "Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it."
Misprize common sense at your peril is my motto.
A policeman, in Stanley and the Women by Kingsley Amis|Kingsley Amis