Quotessence
Home / Authors / Raymond M. Smullyan

Raymond M. Smullyan Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

Famous Raymond M. Smullyan Quotes

“Well, Humpty Dumpty is one of the keenest arguers I know... he almost had me convinced that I had no valid reason to be sure that I was awake... It took me about three hours, but I finally convinced him that I must be awake, and so he conceded that I had won the argument. And then--." The King did not finish his sentence and stood lost in thought. "And then what?" asked Alice. "And then I woke up!" said the King, a bit sheepishly.”

“The knowledge of the ancients was perfect. How perfect? I will tell you. At first they did not yet know that there were things. This is the most perfect knowledge; nothing can be added. Next they knew things but did not yet make distinctions between them. Next they made distinctions between them but did not yet pass judgements upon them. When judgement was passed, Tao was destroyed. With the destruction of Tao, individual preferences come into being.”