Maxims of Goethe 32

Common sense, which is here put forward as the genius of humanity, must be examined first of all in the way it shows itself. 

If we inquire the purpose to which humanity puts it, we find as follows: Humanity is conditioned by needs. If they are not satisfied, men become impatient; and if they are, it seems not to affect them. 

The normal man moves between these two states, and he applies his understanding—his so-called common sense—to the satisfaction of his needs. 

When his needs are satisfied, his task is to fill up the waste spaces of indifference. Here, too, he is successful, if his needs are confined to what is nearest and most necessary. 

But if they rise and pass beyond the sphere of ordinary wants, common sense is no longer sufficient; it is a genius no more, and humanity enters on the region of error.