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Knowledge Quotes

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Knowledge Quotes

“Science does not mean an idle resting upon a body of certain knowledge; it means unresting endeavor and continually progressing development toward an end which the poetic intuition may apprehend, but which the intellect can never fully grasp.”

May Mean Doe Ends Body Science Certain Knowledge Progress Development Accounts Intuition Intellect Poetic Endeavor Idle Certain Knowledge

Author:Max Planck

“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.”

“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.”

Source: Modern Buddhism: The Path of Compassion and Wisdom - Volume 1 Sutra

“Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy; research, the progress; ignorance, the end. There is, by heavens, a strong and generous kind of ignorance that yields nothing, for honour and courage, to knowledge: an ignorance to conceive which needs no less knowledge than to conceive knowledge.”

Needs Kind Ends Philosophy Strong Heaven Wonder Knowledge Progress Ignorance Research Philosophical Foundation Generous Yield Honour

Author:Michel de Montaigne

“The world moves, but we seem to move with it. When I studied physiology beforethere were two hundred and eight bones in the body. Now there are two hundred and thirty- eight.”

World Two Body Seems Moving Knowledge Progress Hundred Eight Bones Thirty Biology Physiology Thirty Eight

Author:Ellen Swallow Richards

“In all ages, through all the varied experience of individuals and nations, knowledge has been the power which has civilized, elevated and dignified humanity. In those countries where progress has been most rapid, the thirst for knowledge has been most intense.”

Has Beens Country Age Humanity Individual Nations Knowledge Progress Intense Civilized Thirst Rapids Thirst For Knowledge

Book:The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimké

Source: The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimké

“It is they [men of science] who hold the secret of the mysterious property of the mind by which error ministers to truth, and truth slowly but irrevocably prevails. Theirs is the logic of discovery, the demonstration of the advance of knowledge and the development of ideas, which as the earthly wants and passions of men remain almost unchanged, are the charter of progress, and the vital spark in history.”

Men Want Mind Ideas Science Passion Secret Knowledge Progress Development Discovery Logic Property Errors Mysterious Ministers Sparks Demonstration Charter

Book:Lectures on Modern History

Source: Lectures on Modern History

“We are approaching a new age of synthesis. Knowledge cannot be merely a degree or a skill... it demands a broader vision, capabilities in critical thinking and logical deduction without which we cannot have constructive progress.”

Thinking Inspirational Age Business Vision Knowledge Progress Skills Demand Degrees Intelligent Critical Logical Capability New Age Constructive Critical Thinking Deductions Synthesis

Author:Li Ka-shing

“In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.”

Firsts Real Science Winning Steps Knowledge Progress Evolution Victory Logic Mark Defeat Contradiction First Steps Formal Signals Real Knowledge

Book:Science and the Modern World

Source: Science and the Modern World

“I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”

Source: Einstein on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms

“Real freedom comes from the mastery, through knowledge, of historic conditions and race character, which makes possible a free and intelligent use of experience for the purpose of progress.”

Real Character Use Purpose Freedom Race Knowledge Progress Conditions Intelligent Historical Mastery Historic Real Freedom

Author:Hamilton Wright Mabie

“Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.”

Humans Whole Race Knowledge Progress Human Race Dependent Hinder Retard

Book:The popular works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, tr., with a memoir of the author by W. Smith

Source: The popular works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, tr., with a memoir of the author by W. Smith

“Education rears disciples, imitators, and routinists, not pioneers of new ideas and creative geniuses. The schools are not nurseries of progress and improvement, but conservatories of tradition and unvarying modes of thought.”

Source: Theory and History

“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.”

“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.”

Source: Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays

“I think chemistry is being frittered away by the hairsplitting of the organic chemists; we have new compounds discovered, which scarcely differ from the known ones and when discovered are valueless-very illustrations perhaps of their refinements in analysis, but very little aiding the progress of true science.”

Thinking Littles Science Differences Known Knowledge Progress Accounts Analysis Chemistry Compounds Illustration Refinement Chemist Valueless

Book:The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862: With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters

Source: The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862: With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters

“I have been asked whether I would agree that the tragedy of the scientist is that he is able to bring about great advances in our knowledge, which mankind may then proceed to use for purposes of destruction. My answer is that this is not the tragedy of the scientist; it is the tragedy of mankind.”

May Has Beens Use Able Science Purpose Answers Knowledge Progress Mankind Destruction Scientist Tragedy Agree Physicist Advancement Inventor

Author:Leo Szilard

“I have tried to read philosophers of all ages and have found many illuminating ideas but no steady progress toward deeper knowledge and understanding. Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress: I am convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy. It has revolutionized fundamental concepts, e.g., about space and time (relativity), about causality (quantum theory), and about substance and matter (atomistics), and it has taught us new methods of thinking (complementarity) which are applicable far beyond physics.”

“Remember that accumulated knowledge, like accumulated capital, increases at compound interest: but it differs from the accumulation of capital in this; that the increase of knowledge produces a more rapid rate of progress, whilst the accumulation of capital leads to a lower rate of interest. Capital thus checks it own accumulation: knowledge thus accelerates its own advance. Each generation, therefore, to deserve comparison with its predecessor, is bound to add much more largely to the common stock than that which it immediately succeeds.”

“Simplification of modes of proof is not merely an indication of advance in our knowledge of a subject, but is also the surest guarantee of readiness for farther progress.”

Knows Science Knowledge Progress Subjects Proof Guarantees Indication Readiness Simplification

Book:Elements of Natural Philosophy

Source: Elements of Natural Philosophy

“The mechanist is intimately convinced that a precise knowledge of the chemical constitution, structure, and properties of the various organelles of a cell will solve biological problems. This will come in a few centuries. For the time being, the biologist has to face such concepts as orienting forces or morphogenetic fields. Owing to the scarcity of chemical data and to the complexity of life, and despite the progresses of biochemistry, the biologist is still threatened with vertigo.”

“Knowledge of Nature is an account at bank, where each dividend is added to the principal and the interest is ever compounded; and hence it is that human progress, founded on natural knowledge, advances with ever increasing speed.”

Knows Humans Science Interest Natural Knowledge Progress Accounts Speed Principal Dividends Human Progress

Book:Presidential Address by Grove Karl Gilbert: With Constitution and Standing Rules, Abstracts of Minutes and Lists of Officers and Members, 1895

Source: Presidential Address by Grove Karl Gilbert: With Constitution and Standing Rules, Abstracts of Minutes and Lists of Officers and Members, 1895

“In the case of various kinds of knowledge, we find that what in former days occupied the energies of men of mature mental ability sinks to the level of information, exercises, and even pastimes for children; and in this educational progress we can see the history of the world's culture delineated in faint outline.”

Men World Kind Children Culture Energy Ability Levels Knowledge Cases Progress Information Exercise Various Educational Former Mature World History Outlines Pastime

Book:The Phenomenology of Mind

Source: The Phenomenology of Mind

“This desire of knowledge and the wonder which it hopes to satisfy are the driving power behind all the changes that we, with careless, question-begging inference, call progress.”

Desire Behinds Wonder Knowledge Progress Driving Careless Begging Inference

Book:Philosophy

Source: Philosophy

“Patience is a virtue, but there comes a moment when you must stop being patient and take the day by the throat and shake it. If it fights back; fine. I'd rather end up bloody at the end of the day, then unhurt with no progress made, no knowledge gained. I'd rather have a no, then nothing. I'd forgotten that about myself.”