“While the dogmatist is harmful, the sceptic is useless ...; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance. Knowledge is not so precise a concept as is commonly thought. Instead of saying 'I know this', we ought to say 'I more or less know something more or less like this'. ... Knowledge in practical affairs has not the certainty or the precision of arithmetic.” KnowsShouldPhilosophyScienceCertainKnowledgeKnowingIgnoranceOughtConceptsAffairPracticalsCertaintyUselessNot KnowingPrecisePrecisionArithmeticSceptic Author:Bertrand Russell
“Do not entertain the notion that you ought to advance in your prayer. If you do, you will only find you have put on the brake instead of the acceleration. All real progress in spiritual things comes gently, imperceptibly, and is the work of God. Our crude efforts spoil it. Know yourself for the childish, limited and dependent soul you are. Remember that the only growth which matters happens without our knowledge and that trying to stretch ourselves is both dangerous and silly. Think of the Infinite Goodness, never of your own state.” IfsThinkingKnowsTryingRealSoulMatterStatesGodHappensChristianRememberSpiritualReligionGrowthWorkPrayerEffortChristianityKnowledgeProgressDangerousOughtGoodnessInfinitePersonal GrowthNotionSillyGentleDependentKnow YourselfAdvancementSpoilOur PrayersStretchingCrudeAdvancingBrakeAccelerationChildishness Author:Evelyn Underhill
“We develop all our sciences, archeology, cosmology, psychology, we tabulate and classify and cling to our sacred definitions, our divisions, without any attempt to synthesis, without the humility to see that these are only parts of a total knowledge. ... But somehow we ought to be able to keep the idea of the totality of experience and knowledge at the back of our minds even though the front's busy from morning til night with the life cycle of the liver fluke.” MindIdeasAbleNightKnowledgeMorningPsychologyFrontsHumilityOughtSacredBusyDefinitionsCyclesDivisionCosmologyTotalityLiverSynthesisSpecializationFlukesArcheology Author:Maureen Duffy
“A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.” IfsMenDoeHas BeensWisdomAbleHopeWishAbilityKnowledgeKnowingPathWiseStrengthDesignOughtHigherLimitsEqualMarkAimExcellenceEqualityAidsSupremeCleverHeightGreat MenBowsBeatenArrowsArcher Book:The Prince Source: The Prince
“God bears with imperfect beings even when they resist His goodness. We ought to imitate this merciful patience and endurance. It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of other people.” PeoplePerfectKnowledgeBearsOughtQuietGoodnessComplainingGentleEnduranceImperfectionImperfectDefectsMerciful Author:Francois Fenelon
“Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.” KnowsLittlesScienceKnownKnowledgeOught Author:Blaise Pascal
“Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20 - 20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go.” ThinkingKnowsScienceKnowledgeSeeingOughtMethodTraditionalTestingHindsightScientific MethodYou Think You KnowZen Motorcycle Maintenance Author:Robert M. Pirsig
“People don't want to think. And the deeper they get into trouble, the less they want to think. But by some sort of instinct, they feel that they ought to and it makes them feel guilty. So they'll bless and follow anyone who gives them a justification for not thinking. Anyone who makes a virtue - a highly intellectual virtue - out of what they know to be their sin, their weakness and their guilt.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantGivingFeelsSinKnowledgeKnowingVirtueTroubleOughtBlessingIntellectualWeaknessGuiltInstinctFollowingDeeperIntellectGuiltyBlessFollowersJustification Author:Ayn Rand
“All knowledge resolves itself into probability. ... In every judgment, which we can form concerning probability, as well as concerning knowledge, we ought always to correct the first judgment deriv'd from the nature of the object, by another judgment, deriv'd from the nature of the understanding.” FirstsWellsFormScienceUnderstandingKnowledgeObjectsOughtJudgmentResolveProbability Book:A Treatise of Human Nature Source: A Treatise of Human Nature
“One of the great problems of philosophy, is the relationship between the realm of knowledge and the realm of values. Knowledge is what is; values are what ought to be. I would say that all traditional philosophies up to and including Marxism have tried to derive the "ought" from the "is." My point of view is that this is impossible, this is a farce.” PhilosophyProblemScienceValuesViewsKnowledgeImpossibleOughtIncludingPoint Of ViewTraditionalRealmsMarxismFarce Author:Jacques Monod
“"I should have more faith," he said; "I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation."” KnowsShouldLongSaidFactsScienceFaithKnowledgeOughtProveCapableShould HaveTrainInterpretationDeductions Author:Arthur Conan Doyle
“If the question were, "What ought to be the next objective in science?" my answer would be the teaching of science to the young, so that when the whole population grew up there would be a far more general background of common sense, based on a knowledge of the real meaning of the scientific method of discovering truth.” IfsRealWholeWould BeYoungScienceNextAnswersCommonKnowledgeTeachingGrewOughtGrew UpAccountsMethodPopulationBackgroundsObjectivesCommon SenseDiscoveringScientific Method Author:Elihu Thomson