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Knowledge Quotes

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Knowledge Quotes

“Hitherto the principle of causality was universally accepted as an indispensable postulate of scientific research, but now we are told by some physicists that it must be thrown overboard. The fact that such an extraordinary opinion should be expressed in responsible scientific quarters is widely taken to be significant of the all-round unreliability of human knowledge. This indeed is a very serious situation.”

ShouldHumansFactsScienceResponsibilitySituationOpinionPrinciplesKnowledgeTakenAcceptanceSeriousResearchResponsibleExtraordinaryRoundsAcceptedSignificantThrownQuartersIndispensablePhysicistScientific ResearchHuman KnowledgeCausalityOverboardUnreliability
Book:The new science: 3 complete works: Where is science going? The universe in the light of modern physics; The philosophy of physics
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“You know we're constantly taking. We don't make most of the food we eat, we don't grow it, anyway. We wear clothes other people make, we speak a language other people developed, we use a mathematics other people evolved and spent their lives building. I mean we're constantly taking things. It's a wonderful ecstatic feeling to create something and put it into the pool of human experience and knowledge.”

PeopleKnowsHumansMeanUseFeelingsScienceSpeakLanguageGrowsWonderKnowledgeWonderfulBuildingClothesMathematicsPoolHuman ExperienceEcstatic
Author:Steve Jobs
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“There are for man only two principles available for a mental grasp of reality, namely, those of teleology and causality. What cannot be brought under either of these categories is absolutely hidden to the human mind. An event not open to an interpretation by one of these two principles is for man inconceivable and mysterious. Change can be conceived as the outcome either of the operation of mechanistic causality or of purposeful behavior; for the human mind there is no third way available.”

MenWayMindHumansTwoReasonRealityTruthReligionPrinciplesKnowledgeLearningEventsBehaviorThirdsAvailableMysteriousOperationsOutcomesInterpretationHuman MindCategoriesExperimentationCausality
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events.”

HumansMadeDifferentProblemActionPastCertainChoicesKnowledgeTeachGenerationsEventsExamplePossibilityCircumstancesDemandConsequenceClimate ChangeDetermineUndoneAnalogiesHuman ActionsFuture EventsPast GenerationsActions Have Consequences
Book:Why History Matters: Life and Thought
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“One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night, or deep in sloping meadows, the feeling that every flower and leaf has just uttered something stupendously direct and important, and that we have by a prodigy of imbecility not heard or understood it. There is a certain poetic value, and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty, not only in wisdom, but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance.”

HumansImportantFeelingsNightCertainValuesKnowledgeHeardIgnoranceFlowerUnderstoodGardenDirectStrikesMoodDramaticPoeticLeafsMeadowsProdigiesImbecilityDazed
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“In recent years our knowledge of modern technology has increased considerably, and as a result we have witnessed remarkable material progress, but there has not been a corresponding increase in human happiness. There is no less suffering in the world today, and there are no fewer problems. Indeed, it might be said that there are now more problems and greater dangers than ever before.”

WorldYearsHumansSaidProblemMightTodayHappinessSufferingResultsKnowledgeTechnologyGreaterProgressModernDangerMaterialsIncreaseRemarkableFewerWorld TodayCorrespondingHuman HappinessModern Technology
Book:Modern Buddhism: The Path of Compassion and Wisdom - Volume 1 Sutra
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“Everywhere we are told that our human resources are all to be used, that our civilization itself means the uses of everything it has - the inventions, the histories, every scrap of fact. But there is one kind of knowledge - infinitely precious, time-resistant more than monuments, here to be passed between the generations in any way it may be: never to be used. And that is poetry.”

WayHumansKindMayMeanFactsUseUsedPoetryKnowledgeGenerationsPoetCivilizationResourcesInventionMonumentUsefulnessHuman ResourcesScrapPrecious Time
Author:Muriel Rukeyser
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“How ignorant we are! How ignorant everyone is! We can cut across only a small area of the appallingly expanding fields of knowledge. No human being can know more than a tiny fraction of the whole. It must have been satisfactory in ancient times when one's own land seemed to be the universe; when research studies, pamphlets, books did not issue in endless flow; when laboratories and scientists were not so rapidly pushing back frontiers of knowledge that the process of unlearning the old left you gasping for breath.”

KnowsHumansHas BeensBookWholeUniverseLeftProcessHuman BeingsKnowledgeStudyIssuesCuttingLandFieldsResearchAreasFlowScientistBreathsAncientTinyEndlessIgnorantPushingExpandingFrontiersLaboratoryFractionsAncient TimesPushing BackResearch Study
Author:Mary Barnett Gilson
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“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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“We humans think we are smart, but an orchid, for example, knows how to produce noble, symmetrical flowers, and a snail knows how to make a beautiful, well-proportioned shell. Compared with their knowledge, ours is not worth much at all. We should bow deeply before the orchid and the snail and join our palms reverently before the monarch butterfly and the magnolia tree. The feeling of respect for all species will help us recognize the noblest nature in ourselves.”

ThinkingKnowsShouldHumansWellsHelpingFeelingsBeautifulNatureKnowledgeKnow HowTreeExampleProduceFlowerSmartRespectSpeciesNobleButterflyBowsShellsPalmsMonarchsSnailOrchidsMagnoliasMonarch ButterflySymmetrical
Book:Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings
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“But we are not dedicating or building any Capitol or Pyramid to human Pride, but found a holy temple in the human Intellect, on the model of the Universe... For whatever is worthy of Existence is worthy of Knowledge-which is the Image (or Echo) of Existence.”

HumansUniverseFoundExistenceKnowledgeBuildingPrideHolyModelsWorthyIntellectTemplesEchoesPyramidsCapitol
Book:Francisci BAconi de Verulamio, ...: Novum organum, sive Indicia vera de interpretatione naturæ
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“The true bounds and limitations, whereby human knowledge is confined and circumscribed,... are three: the first, that we do not so place our felicity in knowledge, as we forget our mortality: the second, that we make application of our knowledge, to give ourselves repose and contentment, and not distates or repining: the third, that we do not presume by the contemplation of Nature to attain to the mysteries of God.”

GivingFirstsHumansThreeForgetKnowledgeMysteryThirdsBoundsLimitationContemplationContentmentMortalityApplicationGod KnowsConfinedReposeFelicityHuman KnowledgeMystery Of God
Author:Francis Bacon
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“Upon a given body to generate and superinduce a new nature or new natures is the work and aim of human power. To discover the Form of a given nature, or its true difference, or its causal nature, or fount of its emanation... this is the work and aim of human knowledge.”

HumansBodyFormGivenDifferencesKnowledgeAimHuman KnowledgeHuman Power
Book:The Novum Organon,: Or a True Guide to the Interpretation of Nature
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“In Philosophy, the contemplations of man do either penetrate unto God, or are circumferred to Nature, or are reflected and reverted upon himself. Out of which several inquiries there do arise three knowledges, Divine Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, and Human Philosophy or Humanity. For all things are marked and stamped with this triple character of the power of God, the difference of Nature and the use of Man.”

MenHumansPhilosophyCharacterUseHumanityThreeNaturalDifferencesKnowledgeDivineAll ThingsAriseContemplationInquiryPenetratePower Of GodNatural Philosophy
Book:Philosophical works
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“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

LifeGivingShouldWritingHumansProblemMotivationalAbleScienceOrderDiesCultureFightingHuman BeingsKnowledgeLearningPlansAdviceDyingDesignBuildingWallBalanceComfortComputerProgramAccountsManagementAtheistSolveBonesShipsCooksMealsInsectsEquationsBadassInvasionSonnetButchersDiapersHogManureSpecializationTastyStranger In A Strange LandRenaissance Man
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
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“Because we have for millenia made moral, aesthetic, religious demands on the world, looked upon it with blind desire, passion or fear, and abandoned ourselves to the bad habits of illogical thinking, this world has gradually become so marvelously variegated, frightful, meaningful, soulful, it has acquired color - but we have been the colorists: it is the human intellect that has made appearances appear and transported its erroneous basic conceptions into things.”

ThinkingWorldHumansHas BeensMadeTruthDesirePassionReligiousMoralKnowledgeThis WorldColorHabitDemandBlindAppearanceIntellectMeaningfulConceptionInsightfulAbandonedAestheticBad HabitsIllogicalSoulful
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Human beings act in a great variety of irrational ways, but all of them seem to be capable, if given a fair chance, of making a reasonable choice in the light of available evidence. Democratic institutions can be made to work only if all concerned do their best to impart knowledge and to encourage rationality. But today, in the world's most powerful democracy, the politicians and the propagandists prefer to make nonsense of democratic procedures by appealing almost exclusively to the ignorance and irrationality of the electors.”

IfsWorldWayHumansMadeLightSeemsTodayActionPoliticalChoicesGivenChanceHuman BeingsPowerfulKnowledgeDemocracySocietyIgnorancePoliticianCapableEvidenceConcernedFairsElectionInstitutionsDemocraticAvailableVarietyAppealsNovelistsReasonableVotingNonsenseMost PowerfulIrrationalRationalityProceduresImpartCivil SocietyIrrationalityFreedom To ChooseChoose WiselyPolitical IdeologyPropagandist
Book:Complete Essays: 1956-1963, and supplement, 1920-1948
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“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents... some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new Dark Age.”

ThinkingWorldMindHumansRealityLightAgeTogetherDarkKnowledgePositionPositiveIgnoranceLimitsSafetyMadRevelationsHuman MindInabilityDark AgesMercifulVistasPlacid
Author:H. P. Lovecraft
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“Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.”

WorldHumansScienceUniverseWishHuman BeingsWonderKnowledgeMysteryComfortAspectPrejudiceStructureAweCosmosSuperstitionsSkepticismFleetingPenetrateSense Of WonderPale Blue Dot
Author:Carl Sagan
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“I am not blind to the shortcomings of our own people. I am not unaware that leaders betray, and sell out, and play false. But this knowledge does not outweigh the fact that my class, the working class, is exploited, driven, fought back with the weapon of starvation, with guns and with venal courts whenever they strike for conditions more human, more civilized for their children, and for their children's children.”

PeopleHumansChildrenDoePlayFactsLeaderClassKnowledgeHistoryConditionsWeaponsGunBlindSellsCourtStrikesDrivenCivilizedBetrayWorking ClassStarvationShortcomings
Author:Mother Jones
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“It is well, when the wise and the learned discover new truths; but how much better to diffuse the truths already discovered, amongst the multitude! Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power; and while a philosopher is discovering one new truth, millions may be propagated amongst the people. Diffusion, then, rather than discovery, is the duty of our government.”

PeopleHumansWellsMayWholeKnowledgeMillionsLearningWiseLandPhilosopherStreamsDiscoveringMultitudesTrue KnowledgeHuman Power
Author:Horace Mann
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“The end of the Cold War removed the immediate causes of whole destruction but not the threat contained in our knowledge. We must tame this knowledge with the ideals of justice, caring, and compassion summoned from our common human spiritual and moral heritage, if we are to live in peace and serenity in the twenty-first century.”

IfsFirstsHumansWarEndsWholeSpiritualCausesJusticeCommonCompassionMoralKnowledgeCenturyColdIdealsDestructionTwentiesThreatCaringHeritageSerenityCold WarHuman SpiritPeace And SerenityCaring And Compassion
Author:Mahnaz Afkhami
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“We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.”

HumansTimeEvilCompassionKnowledgeStruggleGraceCapableMiracleForgivingCompassionateOne TimeJoyfulFrailDaily Struggle
Author:Mairead Corrigan
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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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“Knowledge of the truth I may perhaps have attained to; happiness certainly not. What shall I do? Accomplish something in the world, men tell me. Shall I then publish my grief to the world, contribute one more proof for the wretchedness and misery of existence, perhaps discover a new flaw in human life, hitherto unnoticed? I might then reap the rare reward of becoming famous, like the man who discovered the spots on Jupiter. I prefer, however, to keep silent.”

MenWorldHumansMayMightGriefExistenceKnowledgeHe ManBecomingMiserySilentRewardsAccomplishProofSpotsHuman LifeFlawsPublishReapUnnoticedJupiterWretchednessBecoming Famous
Book:Either/ Or
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