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Human Knowledge Quotes

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Human Knowledge Quotes

“We tend to think human knowledge as progressive; because we know more and more, our parents and grandparents are back numbers. But a contrary theory is possible - that we simply recognize different things at different times and in different ways.”

ThinkingKnowsWayHumansDifferentParentNumbersTheoryContraryDifferent WaysDifferent ThingsProgressiveGrandparentDifferent TimesHuman KnowledgeParents And Grandparents
Book:The Cornish Trilogy
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“I will tell you a little secret about archaeologists, dear Reader. They all pretend t be very high-minded. They claim that their sole aim in excavation is to uncover the mysteries of the past and add to the store of human knowledge. They lie. What they really want is a spectacular discovery, so they can get their names in the newspapers and inspire envy and hatred in the hearts of their rivals.”

WantHumansHeartLittlesPastLyingNamesSecretMysteryInspireReaderDiscoveryHatredClaimsAimAddDearEnvyStoresNewspapersSoleRivalsSpectacularHuman KnowledgeArchaeologists
Author:Barbara Mertz
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“Human knowledge is not (or does not follow) a straight line, but a curve, which endlessly approximates a series of circles, a spiral. Any fragment, segment, section of this curve can be transformed (transformed one-sidedly) into an independent, complete, straight line, which then (if one does not see the wood for the trees) leads into the quagmire, into clerical obscurantism (where it is anchored by the class interests of the ruling classes).”

IfsHumansDoeInterestLinesClassTreeIndependentSeriesWoodsCirclesTransformedSectionsCurvesRulingFragmentsStraight LinesSpiralsHuman KnowledgeQuagmire
Author:Vladimir Lenin
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“So does a whole world, with all its greatnesses and littlenesses, lie in a twinkling star. And as mere human knowledge can split a ray of light and analyse the manner of its composition, so, sublimer intelligences may read in the feeble shining of this earth of ours, every thought and act, every vice and virtue, of every responsible creature on it.”

WorldInspirationalHumansMayDoeWholeLightEarthLyingStarsVirtueGreatnessCreaturesResponsibleShiningMereVicesWhole WorldRaysSplitsCompositionHuman KnowledgeTwinklingVice And VirtueRays Of LightTale Of Two CitiesTwinkling Stars
Book:A Tale of Two Cities: World Classics
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“If one does not make human knowledge wholly dependent upon the original self-knowledge and consequent revelation of God to man, then man will have to seek knowledge within himself as the final reference point. Then he will have to seek an exhaustive understanding of reality. He will have to hold that if he cannot attain to such an exhaustive understanding of reality he has no true knowledge of anything at all. Either man must then know everything or he knows nothing. This is the dilemma that confronts every form of non-Christian epistemology”

IfsKnowsMenHumansDoeSelfRealityChristianFormUnderstandingOriginalsFinalsRevelationsDependentSelf KnowledgeDilemmaEpistemologyHuman KnowledgeTrue Knowledge
Author:Cornelius Van Til
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“What you select from, in order to tell your story, is nothing less than everything. What you build up your world from, your local, intelligible rational, coherent world, is nothing less than everything. . . . . All human knowledge is local. Every life, each human life is local, is arbitrary, the infinitesimal momentary glitter of a reflection.”

WorldHumansStoriesLife IsOrderHumilityReflectionLocalsRationalHuman LifeArbitrarySelectGlitterMomentaryHuman Knowledge
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“The preservation of our free society in the years and decades to come will depend ultimately on whether we succeed or fail in directing the enormous power of human knowledge to the enrichment of our own lives and the shaping of a rational and civilized world order....It is the task of education, more than any other instrument of foreign policy to help close the dangerous gap between the economic and technological interdependence of the people of the world and their psychological, political and spiritual alienation.”

PeopleWorldYearsHumansHelpingSpiritualPoliticalOrderFailingEconomicDangerousPolicyDependsSucceedTasksInstrumentsEducationalDecadesEnormousRationalPsychologicalCivilizedGapsForeign PolicyTechnologicalPreservationAlienationFree SocietyWorld OrderInterdependenceHuman KnowledgeEnrichment
Author:J. William Fulbright
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“In less than eight years "The Origin of Species" has produced conviction in the minds of a majority of the most eminent living men of science. New facts, new problems, new difficulties as they arise are accepted, solved, or removed by this theory; and its principles are illustrated by the progress and conclusions of every well established branch of human knowledge.”

MenYearsMindHumansWellsFactsProblemSciencePrinciplesKnowledgeProgressAcceptanceTheorySolutionsDifficultyMajoritySpeciesConvictionEightAcceptedAriseConclusionBranchesHuman KnowledgeOrigin Of Species
Book:Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays
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“I will frankly tell you that my experience in prolonged scientific investigations convinces me that a belief in God-a God who is behind and within the chaos of vanishing points of human knowledge-adds a wonderful stimulus to the man who attempts to penetrate into the regions of the unknown.”

MenHumansGodScienceBeliefBehindsKnowledgeWonderfulHe ManAddChaosConvinceRegionsInvestigationBiographiesPenetrateStimulusBelief In GodVanishingHuman KnowledgeVanishing Point
Author:Louis Agassiz
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“No one has yet been found so firm of mind and purpose as resolutely to compel himself to sweep away all theories and common notions, and to apply the understanding, thus made fair and even, to a fresh examination of particulars. Thus it happens that human knowledge, as we have it, is a mere medley and ill-digested mass, made up of much credulity and much accident, and also of the childish notions which we at first imbibed.”

MindFirstsHumansMadeHappensSciencePurposeFoundUnderstandingCommonKnowledgeTheoryMassFairsMereNotionIllAccidentsFirmExaminationCredulityHuman KnowledgeMedley
Book:The Great Instauration
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“To inquisitive minds like yours and mine the reflection that the quantity of human knowledge bears no proportion to the quantity of human ignorance must be in one view rather pleasing, viz., that though we are to live forever we may be continually amused and delighted with learning something new.”

MindHumansMayScienceViewsKnowledgeForeverLearningIgnoranceMinesLike YouBearsReflectionIgnorantProportionSomething NewQuantityDelightedLive ForeverAmusedHuman KnowledgeInquisitiveLearning Something NewInquisitive Minds
Book:Writings, Collected and Ed. with a Life and Introd
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“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Wikis give us a place where anyone who is kind, thoughtful and intelligent can come and join us in building a better and more rational world. Jimmy Wales Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”

KnowsWorldGivingHumansWellsKindPersonsGivenLosesKindnessKnow HowImagineBuildingPlanetsRegretIntelligentAccessTreasureRationalThoughtfulAcquireJimmyHesitationSingle PersonMeannessWalesHuman KnowledgeWikis
Author:George Sand
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“[Mathematics] is security. Certainty. Truth. Beauty. Insight. Structure. Architecture. I see mathematics, the part of human knowledge that I call mathematics, as one thing - one great, glorious thing. Whether it is differential topology, or functional analysis, or homological algebra, it is all one thing. ... They are intimately interconnected, they are all facets of the same thing. That interconnection, that architecture, is secure truth and is beauty. That's what mathematics is to me.”

HumansScienceKnowledgeOne ThingSecurityTruth IsMathematicsStructureInsightArchitectureSecureCertaintyAnalysisGloriousFacetsAlgebraInterconnectedHuman KnowledgeInterconnectionTopology
Author:Paul Halmos
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“All good intellects have repeated, since Bacon's time, that there can be no real knowledge but that which is based on observed facts. This is incontestable, in our present advanced stage; but, if we look back to the primitive stage of human knowledge, we shall see that it must have been otherwise then. If it is true that every theory must be based upon observed facts; it is equally true that facts can not be observed without the guidance of some theory. Without such guidance, our facts would be desultory and fruitless; we could not retain them: for the most part we could not even perceive them.”

IfsHumansLooksHas BeensRealFactsWould BeScienceStageTheoryIntellectPerceiveGuidancePrimitiveHuman KnowledgeReal Knowledge
Author:Auguste Comte
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“Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.”

HumansReasonValuesHumanityMoralSkillsStandardsObjectivesIntriguingHuman KnowledgeMind OpeningObjective TruthOpening Your MindStandards And Values
Book:Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives
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“Our aim as scientists is objective truth; more truth, more interesting truth, more intelligible truth. We cannot reasonably aim at certainty. Once we realize that human knowledge is fallible, we realize also that we can never be completely certain that we have not made a mistake.”

HumansMadeCertainRealizingInterestingMistakeScientistAimObjectivesCertaintyMade A MistakeHuman KnowledgeObjective Truth
Book:In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years
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