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Knowledge Quotes

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Knowledge Quotes

“Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things when they are shown their form or told their use; but the speculatist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity, and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less.”

KnowsMindHumansWellsMayStillsReasonWholeUseTruthFormPeaceSidesViewsCommonEducationKnowledgeVirtueEffectsObjectsIgnoranceCuriosityPerceiveArroganceSensibleSuperficialDefectsVulgarFamiliarityMortification
Author:Samuel Johnson
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“Some men covet knowledge out of a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to entertain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for lucre and a livelihood; and but few for employing the Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind.”

MenMindReasonUseNaturalKnowledgeMankindDivineVictoryBenefitsCuriosityDelightReputationVarietyTemperOrnamentsLivelihoodContentionEmployingInquisitiveNatural Curiosity
Book:The Advancement of Learning
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“I sometimes, in my sprightly moments, consider myself, in my great chair at school, as some dictator at the head of a commonwealth. In this little state I can discover all the great geniuses, all the surprising actions and revolutions of the great world in miniature. I have several renowned generals but three feet high, and several deep-projecting politicians in petticoats. I have others catching and dissecting flies, accumulating remarkable pebbles, cockleshells, etc., with as ardent curiosity as any virtuoso in the Royal Society.”

WorldLittlesI CanSometimesStatesMomentsActionSchoolThreeKnowledgeFeetRevolutionGeniusPoliticianCuriosityEtcChairsRemarkableSurprisingDictatorRoyalCatchingArdentCommonwealthPebblesMiniaturesRenownedDissectingVirtuoso
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.”

LifeInspirationalGivingChildrenLittlesFactsWisdomMotivationalNatureEducationKnowledgeCreativityLearningHumilityGiving UpInnovationPreparedNotionCuriosityBe PreparedAbyssPreconceived NotionsInspirational Learning
Book:The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley
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“Oho, now I know what you are. You are an advocate of Useful Knowledge.... Well, allow me to introduce myself to you as an advocate of Ornamental Knowledge. You like the mind to be a neat machine, equipped to work efficiently, if narrowly, and with no extra bits or useless parts. I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt. Shake the machine and it goes out of order; shake the dustbin and it adjusts itself beautifully to its new position.”

IfsKnowsMindWellsOrderBitsKnowledgePositionAmountHealthyMachinesCuriosityBrilliantUselessOddExtrasReasonableShakesFascinatingIntroducingFabricDirtWorthlessNeatScrapGemsQuaintCarvingTinselUseful KnowledgeDustbinNew Position
Book:Tempest-tost
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“In my mind, the purpose of education is to enable human beings to develop to their full potential, intellectually and spiritually. That means that students have to be empowered to pursue self-knowledge and the skills that will help them be of service to their fellow human beings. Education should encourage people to develop their curiosity about life; above all, it should not trivialize either the students or their lives.”

PeopleShouldMindHumansMeanSelfGodHelpingPurposeSpiritualityHuman BeingsKnowledgeStudentsSkillsFellowsCuriositySelf DiscoveryPursueEmpoweringSelf KnowledgeEmpoweredFull PotentialPurpose Of Education
Author:Michael N. Nagler
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“There's a theory, one I find persuasive, that the quest for knowledge is, at bottom, the search for the answer to the question: Where was I before I was born. In the beginning was what? Perhaps, in the beginning, there was a curious room, a room like this one, crammed with wonders; and now the room and all it contains are forbidden you, although it was made just for you, had been prepared for you since time began, and you will spend all your life trying to remember it.”

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Book:Burning your boats: the collected short stories
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“In physiology, as in all other sciences, no discovery is useless, no curiosity misplaced or too ambitious, and we may be certain that every advance achieved in the quest of pure knowledge will sooner or later play its part in the service of man.”

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Book:Starling on the Heart: Facsimile Reprints, Including the Linacre Lecture on the Law of the Heart
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“Human behaviour reveals uniformities which constitute natural laws. If these uniformities did not exist, then there would be neither social science nor political economy, and even the study of history would largely be useless. In effect, if the future actions of men having nothing in common with their past actions, our knowledge of them, although possibly satisfying our curiosity by way of an interesting story, would be entirely useless to us as a guide in life.”

IfsMenWayHumansStoriesWould BeActionPastLawSciencePoliticalSocialNaturalInterestingCommonExistenceKnowledgeHistoryEconomyStudyEffectsCuriosityGuidesUselessSatisfyingBehaviourNatural LawUniformitySocial SciencePolitical EconomyHuman BehaviourInteresting Stories
Author:Vilfredo Pareto
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“But the greatest error of all the rest is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or farthest end of knowledge: for men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession; and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason, to the benefit and use of men.”

KnowsMenGivingMindEndsSometimesReasonUseLastsScienceDesireNaturalKnowledgeVictoryBenefitsAccountsErrorsCuriosityDelightProfessionWitReputationVarietyContradictionAppetiteSincerelyOrnamentsInquisitiveNatural Curiosity
Book:The works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, in five volumes
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“By profession a biologist, [Thomas Henry Huxley] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences. Absolutely nothing was uninteresting to him. His curiosity ranged from music to theology and from philosophy to history. He didn't simply know something about everything; he knew a great deal about everything.”

KnowsPhilosophyWholeFactsScienceDealsKnowledgeFourFieldsCuriosityProfessionTheologyCoveredFenceAbsolutely NothingBiologistHuxleyExact Sciences
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“It is better to have a few forms well known than to teach a little about many hundred species. Better a dozen specimens thoroughly studied as the result of the first year's work, than to have two thousand dollars' worth of shells and corals bought from a curiosity-shop. The dozen animals would be your own.”

YearsFirstsWellsLittlesTwoWould BeFormScienceAnimalResultsKnownKnowledgeTeachTeachingThousandHundredDollarsSpeciesCuriosityShopsDozenShellsWell Known
Author:Louis Agassiz
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“Train yourselves. Don't wait to be fed knowledge out of a book. Get out and seek it. Make explorations. Do your own research work. Train your hands and your mind. Become curious. Invent your own problems and solve them. You can see things going on all about you. Inquire into them. Seek out answers to your own questions. There are many phenomena going on in nature the explanation of which cannot be found in books. Find out why these phenomena take place. Information a boy gets by himself is enormously more valuable than that which is taught to him in school.”

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Author:Irving Langmuir
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