“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
“There is no exercise of the intellect which is not, in the final analysis, useless. A philosophical doctrine begins as a plausible description of the universe; with the passage of the years it becomes a mere chapter if not a paragraph or a name in the history of philosophy.” IfsYearsPhilosophyUniverseNamesExercisePhilosophicalMereFinalsIntellectDoctrineUselessAnalysisDescriptionPassagesChaptersParagraphPlausible Book:Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings Source: Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings
“All things that are living are expression and therefore part of the inherent symbology of life. Art, therefore, that is encumbered with excessive symbolism is extraneous, and from my point of view, useless art. Anyone who understands life needs no handbook of poetry or philosophy to tell him what it is.” NeedsArtPhilosophyViewsExpressionAll ThingsPoint Of ViewUselessInherentSymbolism Book:Adventures in the Arts Source: Adventures in the Arts
“I have heard a good story of Charles Fox. When his house was on fire, he found all efforts to save it useless, and, being a good draughtsman, he went up to the next hill to make a drawing of the fire,--the best instance of philosophy I ever heard of.” PhilosophyStoriesNextFoundHouseEffortFireHeardDrawingInstanceHillsUselessFoxesGood StoryResignation Author:Robert Southey
“Whatever alleged 'truth' is proven by results to be but an empty fiction, let it be unceremoniously flung into the outer darkness, among the dead gods, dead empires, dead philosophies, and other useless lumber and wreckage!” PhilosophyResultsFictionDarknessTruth IsEmptyUselessEmpiresProvenWreckageLumberMight Is Right Author:Anton Szandor LaVey