Full Idea
Particular instances are more self-evident than general principles; for example, the law of contradiction is evident as soon as it is understood, but it is not as evident as that a particular rose cannot be both red and not red.
Gist of Idea
Particular instances are more clearly self-evident than any general principles
Source
Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch.11)
Book Reference
Russell,Bertrand: 'The Problems of Philosophy' [OUP 1995], p.65
A Reaction
This seems to true about nearly all reasoning, because whenever we are faced with a general principle for assessment, we check it by testing it against a series of particular instances, and try to think of contradictory particular counterexamples.