No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.

-Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)
Quoted in Time, 29 Dec1961.

Idonot know whether itoughttobe so, butcertainlysilly things do cease to be silly if theyare done by sensible people in an impudent way.Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly. It depends upon the character of those who handle it.

-Austen,Jane
  Emma, ch.26.

'When you say ''hill'','the Queen interrupted,'I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.' 'No, I shouldn't,'said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: 'a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsenseö' The Red Queen shook her head.'You may call it ''nonsense'' if you like,'shesaid,'but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!'

-Dodgson
Through the Looking-Glass, ch.2,'The Garden of Live Flowers'.

'Sensiblemen are all thesamereligion.' 'And pray what is that?' inquired the prince.'Sensible men never tell.'

-Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
  Waldershire. Endymion, ch.81.

There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards, and the National Union of Mineworkers.

-Stockton
  In the Observer, 22 Feb.

'In about half a mile you cross the river by an Irish bridgeö' 'Whatever is that?' 'It'sjust a bridge, but built under thewater instead ofover it.' 'Extremely sensible.'

-Stewart,John Innes Mackintosh
  A FamilyAffair.