This post is a list of unused quotes from a previous post, Philosophy quotes organized (2018). There are 504 quotes listed below alphabetically by last name and publication date.
John A. Adam (mathematician)
1. "From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically." (Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World, 2006)
1. "From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically." (Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World, 2006)
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888, philosopher)
2. "Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written." (Concord Days, 1872)
2. "Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written." (Concord Days, 1872)
Abu Bakr al-Razi (c. 864 - 935 AD, physician)
3. "If they consider my approach incorrect they could present their views and state their points clearly, so that I may study them, and if I determined their views to be right, I would admit it. However if I disagreed I would discuss the matter to prove my standpoint." (Quoted in The Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists by Michael Hamilton Morgan)
3. "If they consider my approach incorrect they could present their views and state their points clearly, so that I may study them, and if I determined their views to be right, I would admit it. However if I disagreed I would discuss the matter to prove my standpoint." (Quoted in The Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists by Michael Hamilton Morgan)
Andre-Marie Amphere (1775-1836, physicist)
4. "There is synthesis when, in combing therein judgments that are made known to us from simpler relations, one deduces judgments from the relative to more complicated relations. There is analysis when from a complicated truth one deduces more simple truths." (Quoted in Andre-Marie Amphere: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics by James R. Hofmann)
4. "There is synthesis when, in combing therein judgments that are made known to us from simpler relations, one deduces judgments from the relative to more complicated relations. There is analysis when from a complicated truth one deduces more simple truths." (Quoted in Andre-Marie Amphere: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics by James R. Hofmann)
W. S. Anglin (mathematician)
5. "Mathematics is not a careful march down a well cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost. Rigor should be a signal to the historian that the maps have been made, and the real explorers have gone elsewhere." (Mathematics and History, 1992)
5. "Mathematics is not a careful march down a well cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost. Rigor should be a signal to the historian that the maps have been made, and the real explorers have gone elsewhere." (Mathematics and History, 1992)
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975, philosopher)
6. "It was mathematics, the non-empirical science par excellence, wherein the mind appears to play only with itself, that turned out to be the science of sciences, delivering the key to those laws of nature and the universe that are concealed by appearances." (The Life of Mind, 1971)
6. "It was mathematics, the non-empirical science par excellence, wherein the mind appears to play only with itself, that turned out to be the science of sciences, delivering the key to those laws of nature and the universe that are concealed by appearances." (The Life of Mind, 1971)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
7. "Of things said without any combination, each signifies either substance or quantity or qualification or a relative or where or when or being-in-a-position or having or doing or being affected." (Categories)
7. "Of things said without any combination, each signifies either substance or quantity or qualification or a relative or where or when or being-in-a-position or having or doing or being affected." (Categories)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
8. "It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits." (Nicomachean Ethics)
8. "It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits." (Nicomachean Ethics)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
9. "All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge." (Posterior Analytics)
9. "All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge." (Posterior Analytics)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
10. "We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [all things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses..." (Posterior Analytics)
10. "We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [all things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses..." (Posterior Analytics)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
11. "He who wishes to learn must believe." (Sophistical Refutations)
11. "He who wishes to learn must believe." (Sophistical Refutations)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC, philosopher)
12. "Whether if soul did not exist time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked; for if there cannot be someone to count there cannot be anything can be counted, so that evidently there cannot be number for number is either what has been, or what can counted." (Quoted in Merleau-Ponty Vivant by Martin Dillon)
12. "Whether if soul did not exist time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked; for if there cannot be someone to count there cannot be anything can be counted, so that evidently there cannot be number for number is either what has been, or what can counted." (Quoted in Merleau-Ponty Vivant by Martin Dillon)
W. Brian Arthur (1945-now, economist)
13. "Complexity is looking at interacting elements and asking how they form patterns and how the patterns unfold. Its important to point out that the patterns may never be finished. They're open ended." (Quoted in Coming from Your Inner Self by Joseph Jaworski)
13. "Complexity is looking at interacting elements and asking how they form patterns and how the patterns unfold. Its important to point out that the patterns may never be finished. They're open ended." (Quoted in Coming from Your Inner Self by Joseph Jaworski)
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992, writer)
14."I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement and reasoning confirmed by independent observers." (The Roving Mind, 1983)
14."I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement and reasoning confirmed by independent observers." (The Roving Mind, 1983)
Michael Atiyah (1929-2019, mathematician)
15. "People think mathematics begins when you write down a theorem followed by a proof. That's not the beginning, that's the end. For me the creative place in mathematics comes before you start to put things down on paper, before you try to write a formula. You picture various things, you turn them over in your mind. You're trying to create, just as a musician is trying to create music, or a poet." (Interview with Quanta Magazine, 2016)
15. "People think mathematics begins when you write down a theorem followed by a proof. That's not the beginning, that's the end. For me the creative place in mathematics comes before you start to put things down on paper, before you try to write a formula. You picture various things, you turn them over in your mind. You're trying to create, just as a musician is trying to create music, or a poet." (Interview with Quanta Magazine, 2016)
A. J. Ayer (1910-1989, philosopher)
16. "As Hume conclusively showed, no one event intrinsically points to any other. We infer the existence of events which are not actually observing with the help of the general principle. But these principles must be obtained inductively." (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936)
16. "As Hume conclusively showed, no one event intrinsically points to any other. We infer the existence of events which are not actually observing with the help of the general principle. But these principles must be obtained inductively." (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936)
A. J. Ayer (1910-1989, philosopher)
17. "There is philosophy, which is about conceptual analysis (about the meaning of what we say) and there is all of this... all of life." (Quoted in A.J. Ayer: A Life by Ben Rogers)
17. "There is philosophy, which is about conceptual analysis (about the meaning of what we say) and there is all of this... all of life." (Quoted in A.J. Ayer: A Life by Ben Rogers)
Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962, philosopher)
18. "A systematic revolution of basic concepts begins with Einsteinian science. In the very detail of its concepts a relativism of the rational and the empirical is established. Science then undergoes what Nietzsche called 'an upheaval of concepts' as if the Earth, the universe, things professed a different structure from the fact that their explanation rests upon new foundations." (The Philosophic Dialectic of the Concepts of Relativity, 1949)
18. "A systematic revolution of basic concepts begins with Einsteinian science. In the very detail of its concepts a relativism of the rational and the empirical is established. Science then undergoes what Nietzsche called 'an upheaval of concepts' as if the Earth, the universe, things professed a different structure from the fact that their explanation rests upon new foundations." (The Philosophic Dialectic of the Concepts of Relativity, 1949)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
19. "Aristotle... a mere bond-servant to his logic, thereby rendering it contentious and well nigh useless." (Rerum Novarum, 1605)
19. "Aristotle... a mere bond-servant to his logic, thereby rendering it contentious and well nigh useless." (Rerum Novarum, 1605)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
20. "Time, which is the author of authors." (The Advancement of Learning, 1605)
20. "Time, which is the author of authors." (The Advancement of Learning, 1605)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
21. "It cannot be that axioms established by argumentation should avail for the discovery of new works, since the subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of argument." (Novum Organum, 1620)
21. "It cannot be that axioms established by argumentation should avail for the discovery of new works, since the subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of argument." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
22. "Man, being the servant and interpreter of nature, can do and understand so much only as he has observed in fact or thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything." (Novum Organum, 1620)
22. "Man, being the servant and interpreter of nature, can do and understand so much only as he has observed in fact or thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
23. "The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it." (Novum Organum, 1620)
23. "The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
24. "The human understanding is unquiet; it cannot stop or rest, and still presses onward, but in vain. Therefore it is that we cannot conceive of any end or limit to the world, but always as of necessity it occurs to us that there is something beyond." (Novum Organum, 1620)
24. "The human understanding is unquiet; it cannot stop or rest, and still presses onward, but in vain. Therefore it is that we cannot conceive of any end or limit to the world, but always as of necessity it occurs to us that there is something beyond." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
25. "The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search for truth. So it does more harm than good." (Novum Organum, 1620)
25. "The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search for truth. So it does more harm than good." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
26. "There are and can be only two ways of searching into and discovering truth. The one flies from the sense and particulars to the most general axioms, and from these principles the truth of which it takes for settled and immovable, proceeds to judgement and to the discovery of middle axioms. And this way is now in fashion. The other derives axioms from the sense and particulars, rising by a gradual and unbroken ascent, so that it arrives at the most general axioms last of all. This is the true way, but as of yet untried." (Novum Organum, 1620)
26. "There are and can be only two ways of searching into and discovering truth. The one flies from the sense and particulars to the most general axioms, and from these principles the truth of which it takes for settled and immovable, proceeds to judgement and to the discovery of middle axioms. And this way is now in fashion. The other derives axioms from the sense and particulars, rising by a gradual and unbroken ascent, so that it arrives at the most general axioms last of all. This is the true way, but as of yet untried." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
27. "Words plainly force and overrule the understanding, and throw all into confusion, and lead men away into numberless empty controversies and idle fancies." (Novum Organum, 1620)
27. "Words plainly force and overrule the understanding, and throw all into confusion, and lead men away into numberless empty controversies and idle fancies." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, philosopher)
28. "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." (Essays, 1625)
28. "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." (Essays, 1625)
Roger Bacon (c. 1219 - 1292, philosopher)
29. "If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics." (Opus Majus, 1267)
29. "If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics." (Opus Majus, 1267)
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (1967-now, physicist)
30. "Reports of the death of reductionism are greatly exaggerated. It is so ingrained in our thinking that if one day some magical force should make us forget it, we would promptly have to reinvent it." (The Network Takeover, 2012)
30. "Reports of the death of reductionism are greatly exaggerated. It is so ingrained in our thinking that if one day some magical force should make us forget it, we would promptly have to reinvent it." (The Network Takeover, 2012)
John D. Barrow (1952-2020, physicist)
31. "On this view we recognize science to be the search for algorithmic compressions... it is simplest to think of mathematics as the catalogue of all possible patterns... when viewed in this way, it is inevitable that the world is described by mathematics." (New Theories of Everything, 2007)
31. "On this view we recognize science to be the search for algorithmic compressions... it is simplest to think of mathematics as the catalogue of all possible patterns... when viewed in this way, it is inevitable that the world is described by mathematics." (New Theories of Everything, 2007)
John D. Barrow (1952-2020, physicist)
32. "Where there is life there is a pattern, and where there is a pattern, there is mathematics." (The Artful Universe, 1995)
32. "Where there is life there is a pattern, and where there is a pattern, there is mathematics." (The Artful Universe, 1995)
Roland Barthes (1915-1980, literary theorist)
33. "Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tips of my words. My language trembles with desire." (Talking, 1977)
33. "Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tips of my words. My language trembles with desire." (Talking, 1977)
Ilhan Basgoz (writer)
34. "Digression bridges the gap, making the unknown known, irrational rational, obscure clear, incredible credible." (Quoted in Metalanguage by Yael Mashler)
34. "Digression bridges the gap, making the unknown known, irrational rational, obscure clear, incredible credible." (Quoted in Metalanguage by Yael Mashler)
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007, philosopher)
35. "Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers to questions we have not asked and which doubtless don't even arise." (Cool Memories, 1987)
35. "Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers to questions we have not asked and which doubtless don't even arise." (Cool Memories, 1987)
Raymond A. Beauregard (mathematician), John B. Fraleigh (mathematician)
36. "Numbers exists only in out minds. There is no physical entity that is number 1." (Linear Algebra, 1995)
36. "Numbers exists only in out minds. There is no physical entity that is number 1." (Linear Algebra, 1995)
David A. Bednar (1952-now, educator)
37. "Patterns help to avoid waste and unwanted deviations and facilitate uniformity that is appropriate and beneficial." (Quoted in Elder Bednar Teaches Women the Spiritual pattern of Small and Simple Things by Melissa Merrill)
37. "Patterns help to avoid waste and unwanted deviations and facilitate uniformity that is appropriate and beneficial." (Quoted in Elder Bednar Teaches Women the Spiritual pattern of Small and Simple Things by Melissa Merrill)
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, activist)
38. "Words are pegs to hold on." (Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887)
38. "Words are pegs to hold on." (Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887)
Eric Temple Bell (1883-1960, mathematician)
39. "Nearly always it is the recondite and complicated which is elaborated first; and it is only when some relatively unsophisticated mind attacks a problem that its deep simplicity is revealed." (The Development of Mathematics, 1940)
39. "Nearly always it is the recondite and complicated which is elaborated first; and it is only when some relatively unsophisticated mind attacks a problem that its deep simplicity is revealed." (The Development of Mathematics, 1940)
John Stewart Bell (1928-1990, physicist)
40. "The concept of 'measurement' becomes so fuzzy on reflection that it is quite surprising to have it appearing in physical theory at the most fundamental level..." (Quantum Mechanics, 1981)
40. "The concept of 'measurement' becomes so fuzzy on reflection that it is quite surprising to have it appearing in physical theory at the most fundamental level..." (Quantum Mechanics, 1981)
Walter Benjamin (18992-1940, philosopher)
41. "Counsel woven into the fabric of life is wisdom. The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom is dying out." (The Storyteller, 1936)
41. "Counsel woven into the fabric of life is wisdom. The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom is dying out." (The Storyteller, 1936)
Peter L. Berger (1929-2017, sociologist)
42. "...it is safe to say that mythology represents the most archaic form of universe-maintenance..." (The Social Cohesion of Reality, 1966)
42. "...it is safe to say that mythology represents the most archaic form of universe-maintenance..." (The Social Cohesion of Reality, 1966)
Isiah Berlin (1909-1997, philosopher)
43. "To confuse our own constructions and inventions with eternal laws or divine decrees is one of the most fatal delusions of man." (Essays in Honour of E. H. Carr, 1974)
43. "To confuse our own constructions and inventions with eternal laws or divine decrees is one of the most fatal delusions of man." (Essays in Honour of E. H. Carr, 1974)
Jacob Bernoulli (11655-1705, mathematician)
44. "The art of measuring, as precisely as possible, probabilities of things, with the goal that we would be able to always to choose or follow in our judgments and actions that course, which will have been determined to be better, more satisfactory, safer, or more advantageous." (Ars Conjectandi, 1713)
44. "The art of measuring, as precisely as possible, probabilities of things, with the goal that we would be able to always to choose or follow in our judgments and actions that course, which will have been determined to be better, more satisfactory, safer, or more advantageous." (Ars Conjectandi, 1713)
Jacques Bertin (1918-2010, cartographer)
45. "There are as many types of questions as components in the information." (Semiotics of Graphics, 1967)
45. "There are as many types of questions as components in the information." (Semiotics of Graphics, 1967)
Alfred Binet (1857-1911, psychologist)
46. "Mere numbers cannot bring out... the intimate essence of experiment. This conviction comes naturally when one watches a subject at work... What things can happen!" (La Suggestibilite, 1990)
46. "Mere numbers cannot bring out... the intimate essence of experiment. This conviction comes naturally when one watches a subject at work... What things can happen!" (La Suggestibilite, 1990)
Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751, politician)
47. "Philosophers hasten too much from the analytic to the synthetic method; that is, they draw general conclusions from too small a number of partial observations and experiments." (Quoted in Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by Austin Allibone)
47. "Philosophers hasten too much from the analytic to the synthetic method; that is, they draw general conclusions from too small a number of partial observations and experiments." (Quoted in Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by Austin Allibone)
Enrico Bombieri (1940-now, mathematician)
48. "When things get too complicated, it sometimes makes sense to stop and wonder: have I asked the right question?" (Quoted in The Myth of Executive functioning by Leonard Koziol)
48. "When things get too complicated, it sometimes makes sense to stop and wonder: have I asked the right question?" (Quoted in The Myth of Executive functioning by Leonard Koziol)
George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician)
49. "That to the existing forms of analysis a quantitative interpretation is assigned, is the result of the circumstances by which those forms were determined, and is not to be construed into a universal condition of analysis. It is upon the foundation of this general principle, that I purpose to establish the calculus of logic..." (The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, 1847)
49. "That to the existing forms of analysis a quantitative interpretation is assigned, is the result of the circumstances by which those forms were determined, and is not to be construed into a universal condition of analysis. It is upon the foundation of this general principle, that I purpose to establish the calculus of logic..." (The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, 1847)
George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician)
50. "They who are acquainted with the present state of symbolic algebra, are aware, that the validity of the process of analysis does not depend upon the interpretation of the symbols as they are employed, but solely on the laws of their combination." (The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, 1847)
50. "They who are acquainted with the present state of symbolic algebra, are aware, that the validity of the process of analysis does not depend upon the interpretation of the symbols as they are employed, but solely on the laws of their combination." (The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, 1847)
George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician)
51. "I am fully assured, that no general method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities can be established which does not explicitly recognize, not only the special numerical bases of the science, but also those universal laws of thought which are the basis of all reasoning, and which, whatever they may be as to their essence, are at least mathematical as to their form." (Solution of a Question in the Theory of Probabilities, 1853)
51. "I am fully assured, that no general method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities can be established which does not explicitly recognize, not only the special numerical bases of the science, but also those universal laws of thought which are the basis of all reasoning, and which, whatever they may be as to their essence, are at least mathematical as to their form." (Solution of a Question in the Theory of Probabilities, 1853)
George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician)
52. "[My goal is to] unfold the secret laws and relations of those high faculties of though by which all beyond the merely perceptive knowledge of the world and of ourselves is attained or matured, is a object which does not stand in need of commendation to a rational mind." (An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, 1854)
52. "[My goal is to] unfold the secret laws and relations of those high faculties of though by which all beyond the merely perceptive knowledge of the world and of ourselves is attained or matured, is a object which does not stand in need of commendation to a rational mind." (An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, 1854)
George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician)
53. "Of the many forms of false culture, a premature converse with abstractions is perhaps the most likely to prove fatal to the growth of a masculine vigor of intellect." (A Treatise on Differential Equations, 1859)
53. "Of the many forms of false culture, a premature converse with abstractions is perhaps the most likely to prove fatal to the growth of a masculine vigor of intellect." (A Treatise on Differential Equations, 1859)
Daniel Boorstin (1914-2004, historian)
54. "While knowledge is orderly and cumulative, information is random and miscellaneous." (Gresham's Law: Knowledge or Information, 1989)
54. "While knowledge is orderly and cumulative, information is random and miscellaneous." (Gresham's Law: Knowledge or Information, 1989)
George E. P. Box (1919-2013, statistician)
55. "Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful." (Empirical Model Building and Response Surfaces, 1987)
55. "Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful." (Empirical Model Building and Response Surfaces, 1987)
Giannina Braschi (1953-now, poet)
56. "Questions don't change the truth but they give it motion." (Empire of Dreams, 1988)
56. "Questions don't change the truth but they give it motion." (Empire of Dreams, 1988)
Giannina Braschi (1953-now, poet)
57. "Poetry must find ways of breaking distance... All languages are dialects that are made to break new grounds." (Yo-Yo Boing! 1998)
57. "Poetry must find ways of breaking distance... All languages are dialects that are made to break new grounds." (Yo-Yo Boing! 1998)
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996, poet)
58. "By failing to read or listen to poets, society dooms itself to inferior modes of articulation, those of the population, the salesman, or the charlatan. In other words, it forfeits its own evolutionary potential. For what distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom is precisely this gift of speech. Poetry is not a form of entertainment and in a certain sense not even a form of art, but it is our anthropological, genetic goal. Our evolutionary, linguistic beacon." (Opening remarks as U.S Poet Laureate, 1991)
58. "By failing to read or listen to poets, society dooms itself to inferior modes of articulation, those of the population, the salesman, or the charlatan. In other words, it forfeits its own evolutionary potential. For what distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom is precisely this gift of speech. Poetry is not a form of entertainment and in a certain sense not even a form of art, but it is our anthropological, genetic goal. Our evolutionary, linguistic beacon." (Opening remarks as U.S Poet Laureate, 1991)
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974, mathematician)
59. "The symbol and the metaphor are as necessary to science as poetry." (Science and Human Values, 1956)
59. "The symbol and the metaphor are as necessary to science as poetry." (Science and Human Values, 1956)
Joyce Brothers (1927-2013, psychologist)
60. "Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level." (Quoted in Words of Wisdom by William Safire and Leonard Safir)
60. "Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level." (Quoted in Words of Wisdom by William Safire and Leonard Safir)
Martin Buber (1878-1965, philosopher)
61. "Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of human words." (I and Thou, 1923)
61. "Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of human words." (I and Thou, 1923)
Sir Francis Buller, 1st Baronet (1746-1800, judge)
62. "Some instances of strength of memory are very surprising." (Coleman v. Wathen, 1793)
Mario Bunge (1919-2020, philosopher)
63. "At all times pseudo-profound aphorisms have been more popular than rigorous arguments." (Evaluating Philosophies, 2012)
63. "At all times pseudo-profound aphorisms have been more popular than rigorous arguments." (Evaluating Philosophies, 2012)
Werner Callebaut (1952-2014, philosopher), Diego Rasskin-Gutman (researcher)
64. "But patterns are also the realm of art and human enterprise thus, we recognize a sense of universality embedded in patterns, which have permeated human culture through an inner necessity to comprehend natural phenomenon." (Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex Systems, 2005)
64. "But patterns are also the realm of art and human enterprise thus, we recognize a sense of universality embedded in patterns, which have permeated human culture through an inner necessity to comprehend natural phenomenon." (Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex Systems, 2005)
Georg Cantor (1845-1918, mathematician)
65. "I am so in favor of the actual infinite that instead of admitting that nature abhors it, as is commonly said, I hold that nature makes frequent use of it everywhere, in order to show more effectively the perfections of its author." (Quoted in Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians by Rosemary Schmalz)
65. "I am so in favor of the actual infinite that instead of admitting that nature abhors it, as is commonly said, I hold that nature makes frequent use of it everywhere, in order to show more effectively the perfections of its author." (Quoted in Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians by Rosemary Schmalz)
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, writer)
66. "What is all knowledge too but recorded experience, and a product of history..." (On History, 1830)
66. "What is all knowledge too but recorded experience, and a product of history..." (On History, 1830)
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, writer)
67. "Literature is the thought of thinking souls." (Sir Walter Scott, 1838)
67. "Literature is the thought of thinking souls." (Sir Walter Scott, 1838)
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, writer)
68. "Nay, in every epoch of the world, the great event, parent of all others, is it not the arrival of a thinker in the world?" (Heroes and Hero Worship, 1840)
68. "Nay, in every epoch of the world, the great event, parent of all others, is it not the arrival of a thinker in the world?" (Heroes and Hero Worship, 1840)
Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970, philosopher)
69. "The main problem of this book is the development of a new method for the semantical analysis of meanings of linguistic expressions. This method, called the method of extension and intension, is developed by modifying the extending certain customary concepts, especially those of class and property." (Meaning and Necessity, 1947)
69. "The main problem of this book is the development of a new method for the semantical analysis of meanings of linguistic expressions. This method, called the method of extension and intension, is developed by modifying the extending certain customary concepts, especially those of class and property." (Meaning and Necessity, 1947)
Jimmy Carter (1924-2024, U.S. President)
70. "I think of God as an omnipotent and omniscient presence, a spirit that permeates the universe, the essence of truth, nature, being and life. To me, these are profound and indescribable concepts that seem to be trivialized when expressed in words." (Living in Faith, 2001)
Fausto Cercignani (1941-now, poet)
71. "Even good arguments fail, if they are spiced with digressions." (Quoted in Quotations from Fausto Cercignani by Brian Morris)
71. "Even good arguments fail, if they are spiced with digressions." (Quoted in Quotations from Fausto Cercignani by Brian Morris)
Alan Chalmers (1939-now, philosopher)
72. "Science describes not just the observable world, but also the world that lies beyond the appearances." (What is this thing called Science? 1999)
72. "Science describes not just the observable world, but also the world that lies beyond the appearances." (What is this thing called Science? 1999)
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842, theologian)
73. "A beautiful literature springs from the depth and fullness of intellectual and moral life, from an energy of thought and feeling, to which nothing, as we believe, ministers so largely as enlightened religion." (Quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert)
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842, theologian)
73. "A beautiful literature springs from the depth and fullness of intellectual and moral life, from an energy of thought and feeling, to which nothing, as we believe, ministers so largely as enlightened religion." (Quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert)
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842, theologian)
74. "God be thanked for books! They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages." (Quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert)
Colin Cherry (1914-1979, cognitive scientist)
75. "The theory of communication is partly concerned with the measurement of information content of signals, as their essential property in the establishment of communication links." (On Human Communication, 1957)
75. "The theory of communication is partly concerned with the measurement of information content of signals, as their essential property in the establishment of communication links." (On Human Communication, 1957)
Noam Chomsky (1928-now, linguist)
76. "You know, we have little bits of understanding, glimpses, a little bit of light here and there, but there's a tremendous amount of darkness which is a challenge." (Interview in Cardiff, Wales, 2011)
76. "You know, we have little bits of understanding, glimpses, a little bit of light here and there, but there's a tremendous amount of darkness which is a challenge." (Interview in Cardiff, Wales, 2011)
Paul Churchland (1942-now, philosopher)
77. "Your brain is far too complex and mercurial for its behavior to be predicted in any but the broadest outlines or for any but the shortest distances in the future." (The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey in the Brain, 1996)
77. "Your brain is far too complex and mercurial for its behavior to be predicted in any but the broadest outlines or for any but the shortest distances in the future." (The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey in the Brain, 1996)
Cicero (106 - 43 BC, statesman)
78. "Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child." (De Oratore)
Anthony Cleasby (1804-1879, judge)
79. "Truth and falsehood, it has been well said, are not always opposed to each other like black and white, but oftentimes and by design are made to resemble each other so as to be hardly distinguishable; just as the counterfeit things is counterfeit because it resembles the original thing." (Johnson v. Emerson, 1871)
79. "Truth and falsehood, it has been well said, are not always opposed to each other like black and white, but oftentimes and by design are made to resemble each other so as to be hardly distinguishable; just as the counterfeit things is counterfeit because it resembles the original thing." (Johnson v. Emerson, 1871)
Erle Elsworth Clippinger (1875-1939, professor)
80. "Inductive reasoning is reasoning from particular facts to a general law, or proposition, called the conclusion. Inductive reasoning is synthetic; that is, it builds up the law (the proposition) by giving particular instances in which that law is true. It is by inductive reasoning that we have established most of our laws in the natural sciences." (Illustrated Lessons in Composition and Rhetoric, 1912)
80. "Inductive reasoning is reasoning from particular facts to a general law, or proposition, called the conclusion. Inductive reasoning is synthetic; that is, it builds up the law (the proposition) by giving particular instances in which that law is true. It is by inductive reasoning that we have established most of our laws in the natural sciences." (Illustrated Lessons in Composition and Rhetoric, 1912)
Peter Coffey (1876-1943, priest)
81. "Men reasoned rightly before Aristotle ever formulated a canon of logic. It was, in fact by an analysis of such reasonings that he discovered those canons... (The Science of Logic, 1912)
81. "Men reasoned rightly before Aristotle ever formulated a canon of logic. It was, in fact by an analysis of such reasonings that he discovered those canons... (The Science of Logic, 1912)
Paul Cohen (1934-2007, mathematician)
82. "To the average mathematician who merely wants to know that his work is securely based, the most appealing choice is to avoid difficulties by means of Hilbert's Program. Here one regards mathematics as a formal game and one is only concerned with the question of consistency." (Comments of the Foundations of Set Theory, 1971)
82. "To the average mathematician who merely wants to know that his work is securely based, the most appealing choice is to avoid difficulties by means of Hilbert's Program. Here one regards mathematics as a formal game and one is only concerned with the question of consistency." (Comments of the Foundations of Set Theory, 1971)
Paul Cohen (1934-2007, mathematician)
83. "However, in all honesty, I must say that one must essentially forget that all proofs are transcribed in this formal language. In order to think productively, one must use all the intuitive and informal methods of reasoning at one's disposal. At the very end one must check that no errors have been committed..." (The Discover of Forcing, 2002)
83. "However, in all honesty, I must say that one must essentially forget that all proofs are transcribed in this formal language. In order to think productively, one must use all the intuitive and informal methods of reasoning at one's disposal. At the very end one must check that no errors have been committed..." (The Discover of Forcing, 2002)
Stephen Colbert (1964-now, television host)
84. "Language has always been important in politics, but language is incredibly important to the present political struggle." (Interview with New York Magazine, 2006)
84. "Language has always been important in politics, but language is incredibly important to the present political struggle." (Interview with New York Magazine, 2006)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834, poet)
85. "No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher. For poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions and language." (Biographia Literaria, 1817)
85. "No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher. For poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions and language." (Biographia Literaria, 1817)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834, poet)
86. "...poetry = the best words in their best order." (Table Talk, 1827)
86. "...poetry = the best words in their best order." (Table Talk, 1827)
Francis Collins (1950-now, physician)
87. "Reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page." (Collins: Why this scientist believes in God, CNN, 2007)
87. "Reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page." (Collins: Why this scientist believes in God, CNN, 2007)
Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832, cleric)
88. "Logic is a large drawer, containing some useful instruments that are really useful and to admire the ingenuity with which those that are not so, are assorted and arranged." (Lacon, 1851)
88. "Logic is a large drawer, containing some useful instruments that are really useful and to admire the ingenuity with which those that are not so, are assorted and arranged." (Lacon, 1851)
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714-1780, philosopher)
89. "We think only through the medium of words. Languages are true analytical methods. Algebra, which is adapted to its purpose in every species of expression, in the most simple, most exact, and best manner possible, is at the same time a language and an analytical methods. The art of reasoning is nothing more than a language well arranged." (Quoted in A System of Logic by Antoine Lavoisier)
89. "We think only through the medium of words. Languages are true analytical methods. Algebra, which is adapted to its purpose in every species of expression, in the most simple, most exact, and best manner possible, is at the same time a language and an analytical methods. The art of reasoning is nothing more than a language well arranged." (Quoted in A System of Logic by Antoine Lavoisier)
Francis Crick (1916-2004, biologist)
90. "What is found in biology is mechanisms, mechanisms built with chemical components and that are often modified by other, later mechanisms added to the earlier ones. While Occam's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a dangerous implement in biology." (What Mad Pursuit, 1988)
90. "What is found in biology is mechanisms, mechanisms built with chemical components and that are often modified by other, later mechanisms added to the earlier ones. While Occam's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a dangerous implement in biology." (What Mad Pursuit, 1988)
Benedetto Croce (1866-1952, politician)
91. "Language is articulated, limited sound organized for the purpose of expression." (Quoted in The Origins and Prehistory of Language by Geza Revesz)
91. "Language is articulated, limited sound organized for the purpose of expression." (Quoted in The Origins and Prehistory of Language by Geza Revesz)
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947, occultist)
92. "True poetry is itself a magic spell which is key to the ineffable." (Eight Lectures on Yoga, 1939)
92. "True poetry is itself a magic spell which is key to the ineffable." (Eight Lectures on Yoga, 1939)
Aram D'Abro (writer)
93. "Hilbert and others succeeded in filling the gap by stating explicitly a complete system of postulates for euclidean and non-euclidean geometries alike." (The Evolution of Scientific Though from Newton to Einstein, 1927)
Aram D'Abro (writer)
94. "Kant's knowledge of Newtonian mechanics was extremely poor say the least." (The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein, 1927)
94. "Kant's knowledge of Newtonian mechanics was extremely poor say the least." (The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein, 1927)
95. "The discovery of rigid objects in nature is of fundamental importance. Without it, the concept of measurement would probably never arise and metrical geometry would have been impossible... As for the physical definition of straightness, it could have been arrived at in a number of ways either by stretching a rope between two points or appealing to the properties of these rigid bodies themselves." (The Evolution of Scientific Though from Newton to Einstein, 1927)
Tobias Dantzig (1884-1956, mathematician)
96. "Between the philosopher's attitude towards the issue of reality and that of the mathematician there is this essential difference: for the philosopher the issue is paramount; the mathematician's love for reality is purely platonic." (Number: The Language of Science, 1930)
Tobias Dantzig (1884-1956, mathematician)
97. "For the trouble with human words is that they possess content, whereas the purpose of mathematics is to construct pure thought." (Number: The Language of Science, 1930)
97. "For the trouble with human words is that they possess content, whereas the purpose of mathematics is to construct pure thought." (Number: The Language of Science, 1930)
Tobias Dantzig (1884-1956, mathematician)
98. "The progress of mathematics has been most erratic, and... intuition has played a predominant role in it... it was the function of intuition to create new forms..." (Number: The Language of Science, 1930)
98. "The progress of mathematics has been most erratic, and... intuition has played a predominant role in it... it was the function of intuition to create new forms..." (Number: The Language of Science, 1930)
Donald Davidson (1917-2003, philosopher)
99. "I conclude that there is not such thing as language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered or both with. We must give up the idea of clearly defined shared structure which language users acquire and then apply to cases. And we should try again to say how convention in any important sense is involved in language; or as I think, we should give up the attempt to illuminate how we communicate by appeal to conventions." (A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs, 1986)
99. "I conclude that there is not such thing as language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered or both with. We must give up the idea of clearly defined shared structure which language users acquire and then apply to cases. And we should try again to say how convention in any important sense is involved in language; or as I think, we should give up the attempt to illuminate how we communicate by appeal to conventions." (A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs, 1986)
Donald Davidson (1917-2003, philosopher)
100. "I thought... that the fact that in characterizing truth for a language it is necessary to put into relations with objects was enough to give some grip for the idea of correspondence; but this now seems to me a mistake. The mistake is in a way only a misnomer, but terminological infelicities have a way of breeding conceptual confusion, and so it is here. Correspondence theories have always been conceived as providing an explanation or analysis of truth, and this, a Tarski-style of truth, certainly does not do." (Quoted in Donald Davidson by Simon Evnin)
100. "I thought... that the fact that in characterizing truth for a language it is necessary to put into relations with objects was enough to give some grip for the idea of correspondence; but this now seems to me a mistake. The mistake is in a way only a misnomer, but terminological infelicities have a way of breeding conceptual confusion, and so it is here. Correspondence theories have always been conceived as providing an explanation or analysis of truth, and this, a Tarski-style of truth, certainly does not do." (Quoted in Donald Davidson by Simon Evnin)
Richard Dawkins (1941-now, biologist)
101. "The trouble is that God in this sophisticated, physicist's sense bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible or any other religion." (Extracted from the Nullifidian lecture, 1994)
101. "The trouble is that God in this sophisticated, physicist's sense bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible or any other religion." (Extracted from the Nullifidian lecture, 1994)
Bruno de Finetti (1906-1985, statistician)
102. "My thesis, paradoxically, and a little provactively, but nonetheless genuinely, is simply this: probability does not exist... Probability, too, if regarded as something endowed with some kind of objective existence, is no less a misleading misconception, an illusory attempt to exteriorize or materialize our true probabilistic beliefs." (Theory of Probability, 1970)
102. "My thesis, paradoxically, and a little provactively, but nonetheless genuinely, is simply this: probability does not exist... Probability, too, if regarded as something endowed with some kind of objective existence, is no less a misleading misconception, an illusory attempt to exteriorize or materialize our true probabilistic beliefs." (Theory of Probability, 1970)
Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871, logician)
103. "There never has been, and till we see it we never shall believe that there can be, a system of geometry worthy of the name, which has any material departures from the plan laid down by Euclid." (Short Supplementary Remarks on the First Six Books of Euclid's Elements, 1848)
103. "There never has been, and till we see it we never shall believe that there can be, a system of geometry worthy of the name, which has any material departures from the plan laid down by Euclid." (Short Supplementary Remarks on the First Six Books of Euclid's Elements, 1848)
Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871, logician)
104. "During the last two centuries and a half, physical knowledge has been gradually made to rest upon a basis which it had not before. It has become mathematical." (A Budget of Paradoxes, 1872)
104. "During the last two centuries and a half, physical knowledge has been gradually made to rest upon a basis which it had not before. It has become mathematical." (A Budget of Paradoxes, 1872)
Richard Dedekind (1831-1916, mathematician)
105. "Numbers are free creations of the human mind; they serve as a means of apprehending more easily and more sharply the difference of things." (Essays on the Theory of Numbers, 1901)
105. "Numbers are free creations of the human mind; they serve as a means of apprehending more easily and more sharply the difference of things." (Essays on the Theory of Numbers, 1901)
Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995, philosopher)
106. "Evaluations, in essence, are... ways of being, modes of existence of those who judge and evaluate." (Nietzsche and Philosophy, 1962)
106. "Evaluations, in essence, are... ways of being, modes of existence of those who judge and evaluate." (Nietzsche and Philosophy, 1962)
Daniel Dennett (1942-2024, philosopher)
107. "But this seems to uncover an enormous puzzle of just what, if anything, consciousness is for. Can a conscious entity do anything for itself that an unconscious (but clearly wired up) simulation of that entity couldn't do for itself." (The Evolution of Consciousness, 1998)
107. "But this seems to uncover an enormous puzzle of just what, if anything, consciousness is for. Can a conscious entity do anything for itself that an unconscious (but clearly wired up) simulation of that entity couldn't do for itself." (The Evolution of Consciousness, 1998)
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004, philosopher)
108. "At the end of Being and Nothingness... Being in-itself and Being for-itself were of Being; and this totality of beings, in which they were effected, itself was linked up to itself, relating and appearing to itself, by means of the essential project of human-reality." (Margins of Philosophy, 1972)
108. "At the end of Being and Nothingness... Being in-itself and Being for-itself were of Being; and this totality of beings, in which they were effected, itself was linked up to itself, relating and appearing to itself, by means of the essential project of human-reality." (Margins of Philosophy, 1972)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
109. "Arithmetic and geometry are much more certain than the other sciences because the objects of them are in themselves so simple and clear that they need not suppose anything which experience can call in question, and both proceed by a chain of consequences which reason deduces one from another." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
109. "Arithmetic and geometry are much more certain than the other sciences because the objects of them are in themselves so simple and clear that they need not suppose anything which experience can call in question, and both proceed by a chain of consequences which reason deduces one from another." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
110. "Finally we ought to employ all the help of understanding, imagination, sense and memory, first for the purpose of having a distinct intuition of simple propositions; partly also in order to compare the propositions." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
110. "Finally we ought to employ all the help of understanding, imagination, sense and memory, first for the purpose of having a distinct intuition of simple propositions; partly also in order to compare the propositions." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
111. "There is a need of a method for finding out the truth." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
111. "There is a need of a method for finding out the truth." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
112. "We must occupy ourselves only with those objects that our intellectual powers appear competent to know certainly and indubitably." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
112. "We must occupy ourselves only with those objects that our intellectual powers appear competent to know certainly and indubitably." (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1628)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
113. "Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it." (Discourse on the Method, 1637)
113. "Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it." (Discourse on the Method, 1637)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
114. "If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things." (Discourse on the Method, 1637)
114. "If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things." (Discourse on the Method, 1637)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
115. "Because I cannot conceive god unless as existing, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and therefore that he really exists." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
115. "Because I cannot conceive god unless as existing, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and therefore that he really exists." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
116. "But what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and that also imagines and senses." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
116. "But what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and that also imagines and senses." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
117. "Even when I still strongly adhered to the objects of sense, I reckoned among the number of the most certain truths those I clearly conceived relating to figures, numbers and other matters that pertain to arithmetic and geometry, and in general to the pure mathematics." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
117. "Even when I still strongly adhered to the objects of sense, I reckoned among the number of the most certain truths those I clearly conceived relating to figures, numbers and other matters that pertain to arithmetic and geometry, and in general to the pure mathematics." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
118. "What is there, then, that can be esteemed true? Perhaps this only that there is absolutely nothing certain." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
119. "When I imagine a triangle, although there is not perhaps and never was in any place in the universe apart from my thought one such figure, it remains true nevertheless that this figure possesses a certain determinant nature, form, or essence, which is immutable and eternal and not framed by me, nor in any degree dependent on my thought." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
118. "What is there, then, that can be esteemed true? Perhaps this only that there is absolutely nothing certain." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
119. "When I imagine a triangle, although there is not perhaps and never was in any place in the universe apart from my thought one such figure, it remains true nevertheless that this figure possesses a certain determinant nature, form, or essence, which is immutable and eternal and not framed by me, nor in any degree dependent on my thought." (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
Rene Descartes (1596-1650, philosopher)
120. "It is a truth very certain that, when it is not our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable." (Quoted in Control of Engineering by Stephen Wearne)
120. "It is a truth very certain that, when it is not our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable." (Quoted in Control of Engineering by Stephen Wearne)
John Dewey (1859-1952, philosopher)
121. "Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination." (The Quest for Certainty, 1929)
121. "Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination." (The Quest for Certainty, 1929)
John Dewey (1859-1952, philosopher)
122. "Human reason, all too human, have given birth to the idea that over and beyond the lower realm of things that shift like the sands on the seashore there is the kingdom of the unchanging, of the complete the perfect... the eternal and immutable is the consummation of mortal man's quest for certainty." (Time and Individuality, 1940)
122. "Human reason, all too human, have given birth to the idea that over and beyond the lower realm of things that shift like the sands on the seashore there is the kingdom of the unchanging, of the complete the perfect... the eternal and immutable is the consummation of mortal man's quest for certainty." (Time and Individuality, 1940)
John Dewey (1859-1952, philosopher)
123. "Intuition alone articulates in the forward thrust of life and alone hold of reality." (Time and Individuality, 1940)
123. "Intuition alone articulates in the forward thrust of life and alone hold of reality." (Time and Individuality, 1940)
Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis (1892-1965, professor)
124. "The creation of modern science required a different philosophy. Man had to realize that if science is to grow, each generation must make its own contribution; and that the accumulated wisdom of antiquity is useful only as a starting point for new research." (Simon Stevin: Science in the Netherlands Around 1600, 1970)
124. "The creation of modern science required a different philosophy. Man had to realize that if science is to grow, each generation must make its own contribution; and that the accumulated wisdom of antiquity is useful only as a starting point for new research." (Simon Stevin: Science in the Netherlands Around 1600, 1970)
Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975, biologist)
125. "Any competent biologist is aware of a multitude of problems yet unresolved and of questions yet unanswered. After all, biological research shows no sign of approaching completion; quite the opposite is true." (Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in Light of Evolution, 1973)
125. "Any competent biologist is aware of a multitude of problems yet unresolved and of questions yet unanswered. After all, biological research shows no sign of approaching completion; quite the opposite is true." (Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in Light of Evolution, 1973)
John M. Dolan (professor)
126. "Logic misses the point of half the things we ordinarily say and cannot match the insight of the humblest person's common sense." (Inference and Imagination, 1994)
126. "Logic misses the point of half the things we ordinarily say and cannot match the insight of the humblest person's common sense." (Inference and Imagination, 1994)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930, writer)
127. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" (The Sign of the Four, 1890)
127. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" (The Sign of the Four, 1890)
Margaret Drabble (1939-now, writer)
128. "Sometimes it seems the only accomplishment my education ever bestowed on me, the ability to think in quotations." (A Summer Bird Cage, 1963)
128. "Sometimes it seems the only accomplishment my education ever bestowed on me, the ability to think in quotations." (A Summer Bird Cage, 1963)
Dinesh D'Souza (1961-now, political commentator)
129. "Strictly speaking, relativism does not permit social progress, because the new culture is by definition no better than the one it replaced." (The End of Racism, 1995)
129. "Strictly speaking, relativism does not permit social progress, because the new culture is by definition no better than the one it replaced." (The End of Racism, 1995)
Michael Dummet (1925-2011, philosopher)
130. "Philosophy can take us no further than enabling us to command a clear view of the concepts by means of which we think about the world, and, by so doing, to attain a firmer grasp of the way we represent the world in our thought. It is for this reason and in this sense that philosophy is about the world." (The Logical Basis of Metaphysics, 1991)
130. "Philosophy can take us no further than enabling us to command a clear view of the concepts by means of which we think about the world, and, by so doing, to attain a firmer grasp of the way we represent the world in our thought. It is for this reason and in this sense that philosophy is about the world." (The Logical Basis of Metaphysics, 1991)
Carl Eckhart (1902-1973, physicist)
131. "Words and numbers have no existence separate from the people who use them." (Our Modern Idol: Mathematical Science, 1984)
131. "Words and numbers have no existence separate from the people who use them." (Our Modern Idol: Mathematical Science, 1984)
Arthur Eddington (1882-1944, astrophysicist)
132. "And so in its actual procedure physics studies not these inscrutable qualities, but pointer readings which we can observe... The former have as much resemblance to the latter as a telephone number has to a subscriber." (Domain of Physical Science, 1925)
132. "And so in its actual procedure physics studies not these inscrutable qualities, but pointer readings which we can observe... The former have as much resemblance to the latter as a telephone number has to a subscriber." (Domain of Physical Science, 1925)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
133. "Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such an authority over us that we forget their early origins and accept them as unalterable givens. Thus they come to be stamped as 'necessities of thought', 'a priori givens' etc... The path of scientific advance is often made impassible for a long time through such errors." (Ernst Mach Memorial Notice, 1916)
133. "Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such an authority over us that we forget their early origins and accept them as unalterable givens. Thus they come to be stamped as 'necessities of thought', 'a priori givens' etc... The path of scientific advance is often made impassible for a long time through such errors." (Ernst Mach Memorial Notice, 1916)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
134. "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." (Interview with the Saturday Evening Post, 1929)
134. "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." (Interview with the Saturday Evening Post, 1929)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
135. "Pure logical thinking can give us no knowledge whatsoever of the world of experience and terminates in it." (On the Method of Theoretical Physics, 1934)
135. "Pure logical thinking can give us no knowledge whatsoever of the world of experience and terminates in it." (On the Method of Theoretical Physics, 1934)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
136. "Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." (Obituary for Emmy Noether, 1935)
136. "Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." (Obituary for Emmy Noether, 1935)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
137. "I believe that the first step in the setting of a 'real external world' is the formation of the concept of bodily objects... out of the multitude of our sense experiences we take, mentally and arbitrarily, certain repeatedly occurring complexes of sense impressions... and we correlated them a concept - the concept of a bodily object." (Physics and Reality, 1936)
137. "I believe that the first step in the setting of a 'real external world' is the formation of the concept of bodily objects... out of the multitude of our sense experiences we take, mentally and arbitrarily, certain repeatedly occurring complexes of sense impressions... and we correlated them a concept - the concept of a bodily object." (Physics and Reality, 1936)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
138. "Fundamental ideas play the most essential role in forming a physical theory. Books on physics are full of complicated mathematical formulae. But thought and ideas not formulae, are the beginning of every physical theory. The idea must later take the mathematical form of a quantitative theory, to make possible the comparison of an experiment." (The Evolution of Physics, 1938)
138. "Fundamental ideas play the most essential role in forming a physical theory. Books on physics are full of complicated mathematical formulae. But thought and ideas not formulae, are the beginning of every physical theory. The idea must later take the mathematical form of a quantitative theory, to make possible the comparison of an experiment." (The Evolution of Physics, 1938)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
139. "All concepts, even those which are closest to experience, are from the point of view of logic freely chosen conventions." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
139. "All concepts, even those which are closest to experience, are from the point of view of logic freely chosen conventions." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
140. "I despaired of the possibility of discovering the true laws by means of constructive efforts based on known facts. The longer and the more despairingly I tried, the more I came to the conviction that only discovery of a universal formal principle could lead us to assured results." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
140. "I despaired of the possibility of discovering the true laws by means of constructive efforts based on known facts. The longer and the more despairingly I tried, the more I came to the conviction that only discovery of a universal formal principle could lead us to assured results." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
141. "The aim of science is.. a comprehension, as complete as possible, of the connection between the sense experiences in their totality, and... the accomplishment of this aim by the use of the minimum of primary concepts and relations." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
141. "The aim of science is.. a comprehension, as complete as possible, of the connection between the sense experiences in their totality, and... the accomplishment of this aim by the use of the minimum of primary concepts and relations." (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
142. "A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience." (Letter to H. L. Gordon, 1949)
142. "A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience." (Letter to H. L. Gordon, 1949)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
143. "I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts." (Letter to Michele Besso, 1952)
143. "I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts." (Letter to Michele Besso, 1952)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
144. "There will come a point in everyone's life, however, where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without ever knowing precisely how." (Quoted in Einstein and the Poet by William Hermanns)
144. "There will come a point in everyone's life, however, where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without ever knowing precisely how." (Quoted in Einstein and the Poet by William Hermanns)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
145. "Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of the greatest significance in our age of transition." (Quoted in Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, War, Peace and the Bomb by David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann)
145. "Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of the greatest significance in our age of transition." (Quoted in Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, War, Peace and the Bomb by David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, physicist)
146. "As our circle of knowledge expands so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." (Quoted in Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder)
146. "As our circle of knowledge expands so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." (Quoted in Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder)
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965, poet)
147. "Men tighten the knot of confusion into perfect misunderstanding." (The Family Reunion, 1939)
147. "Men tighten the knot of confusion into perfect misunderstanding." (The Family Reunion, 1939)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, writer)
148. "Language is a city to the building of which every human brought a stone." (Letters and Social Aims, 1876)
148. "Language is a city to the building of which every human brought a stone." (Letters and Social Aims, 1876)
Paul Engle (1908-1991, poet)
149. "Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words." (New York Times, 1957)
149. "Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words." (New York Times, 1957)
Stephen Eyre (1957-now, judge)
150. "It is difficult to say what is or is not evidence itself, because it all depends upon the chain and connection it has - if there are two or three links in the chain, they must go to one first and then to another, and see whether they amount to evidence." (Tooke's Case. 1794)
150. "It is difficult to say what is or is not evidence itself, because it all depends upon the chain and connection it has - if there are two or three links in the chain, they must go to one first and then to another, and see whether they amount to evidence." (Tooke's Case. 1794)
Leon Festinger (1919-1989, psychologist)
151. "When there is a range of opinion in the group, communications tend to be directed towards those members whose opinions are at the extremes of the range." (Interpersonal Communication in Small Groups, 1951)
151. "When there is a range of opinion in the group, communications tend to be directed towards those members whose opinions are at the extremes of the range." (Interpersonal Communication in Small Groups, 1951)
Richard Feynman (1918-1988, physicist)
152. "A very great deal more truth can become known than can be proven." (Nobel Lecture: The Development of Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics, 1965)
152. "A very great deal more truth can become known than can be proven." (Nobel Lecture: The Development of Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics, 1965)
Richard Feynman (1918-1988, physicist)
153. "In summary, the idea is to try to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another." (Adapted from Caltech's 1974 commencement address)
153. "In summary, the idea is to try to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another." (Adapted from Caltech's 1974 commencement address)
Richard Feynman (1918-1988, physicist)
154. "In general, we look for a new law by the following process: first we guess it... Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what, if it is right, if this law that we guessed is right, to see what it would imply. And then we compare it directly with observation to see if it works. If it disagrees with the experiment, then it's wrong." (QED; The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, 1985)
154. "In general, we look for a new law by the following process: first we guess it... Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what, if it is right, if this law that we guessed is right, to see what it would imply. And then we compare it directly with observation to see if it works. If it disagrees with the experiment, then it's wrong." (QED; The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, 1985)
Richard Feynman (1918-1988, physicist)
155. "It is therefore not necessary to imitate the behavior of nature in detail in order to engineer a device which can in many respects surpass nature's abilities." (The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1999)
155. "It is therefore not necessary to imitate the behavior of nature in detail in order to engineer a device which can in many respects surpass nature's abilities." (The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1999)
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814, philosopher)
156. "...How this knowledge can come into being, and what is in its inward and essential nature?" (Outline of the Doctrine of Knowledge, 1810)
156. "...How this knowledge can come into being, and what is in its inward and essential nature?" (Outline of the Doctrine of Knowledge, 1810)
Stanley Fish (1938-now, literary theorist)
157. "Language is not a handmaiden to perception; it is perception; it gives shape to what would otherwise be inert and deal." (How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One, 2011)
157. "Language is not a handmaiden to perception; it is perception; it gives shape to what would otherwise be inert and deal." (How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One, 2011)
Jerry Fodor (1935-2017, philosopher)
158. "I hate relativism. I hate relativism more than I hate anything else, except maybe, fiberglass powerboats... Surely, surely, no one but a relativist would drive a fiberglass powerboat." (The Modularity of Mind, 1985)
158. "I hate relativism. I hate relativism more than I hate anything else, except maybe, fiberglass powerboats... Surely, surely, no one but a relativist would drive a fiberglass powerboat." (The Modularity of Mind, 1985)
Gerald Ford (1913-2006, U.S. President)
159. "I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself." (Remarks on Taking the Oath of Office, 1974)
159. "I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself." (Remarks on Taking the Oath of Office, 1974)
Joseph Fourier (1768-1830, mathematician)
160. "Primary causes are unknown to us; but are subject to simple and constant laws, which may be discovered by observation, the study of them being the object of natural philosophy. (The Analytical Theory of Heat, 1878)
160. "Primary causes are unknown to us; but are subject to simple and constant laws, which may be discovered by observation, the study of them being the object of natural philosophy. (The Analytical Theory of Heat, 1878)
Joseph Fourier (1768-1830, mathematician)
161. "Profound study of nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discoveries." (The Analytical Theory of Heat, 1878)
161. "Profound study of nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discoveries." (The Analytical Theory of Heat, 1878)
Phillipp Frank (1884-1966, philosopher)
162. "Agreement with observe facts' never single singles out one individual theory. There is never only one theory that is in complete agreement with all observed facts, but several theories that are in partial agreement. We have to select the final theory by compromise." (Philosophy of Science: The Link Between Science and Philosophy, 1957)
162. "Agreement with observe facts' never single singles out one individual theory. There is never only one theory that is in complete agreement with all observed facts, but several theories that are in partial agreement. We have to select the final theory by compromise." (Philosophy of Science: The Link Between Science and Philosophy, 1957)
Frederik II (1712-1786, King of Prussia)
163. "I have no fault to find with those who teach geometry. That science is the only one which has not produced sects; it is founded on analysis and on synthesis and on the calculus; it does not occupy itself with the probable truth; moreover it has the same method in every country." (Quoted in the Foundations of Geometry and the Non-Euclidean Plane by G. E. Martin)
163. "I have no fault to find with those who teach geometry. That science is the only one which has not produced sects; it is founded on analysis and on synthesis and on the calculus; it does not occupy itself with the probable truth; moreover it has the same method in every country." (Quoted in the Foundations of Geometry and the Non-Euclidean Plane by G. E. Martin)
Gottlob Frege (1848-1925, logician)
164. "It really is worth the trouble to invent a new symbol if we can thus remove not a few logical difficulties and ensure the rigor of the proofs." (Quoted in Readings in Epistemology by Dagobert David Runes)
164. "It really is worth the trouble to invent a new symbol if we can thus remove not a few logical difficulties and ensure the rigor of the proofs." (Quoted in Readings in Epistemology by Dagobert David Runes)
Christopher Fry (1907-2005, poet)
165. "Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement." (Interview with Time, 1950)
165. "Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement." (Interview with Time, 1950)
Northrop Frye (1912-1991, literary critic)
166. "...there is something about time and space that is not real, and something about us that is." (Fearful symmetry: A Study of William Blake, 1947)
Northrop Frye (1912-1991, literary critic)
167. "Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature." (The Critical Path and Other Writings on Critical Theory, 1963-1975)
Northrop Frye (1912-1991, literary critic)
168. "We have revolutionary thought whenever the feeling 'life is a dream' becomes geared to an impulse to awaken from it." (The Great Code: The Bible and Literature, 1982)
166. "...there is something about time and space that is not real, and something about us that is." (Fearful symmetry: A Study of William Blake, 1947)
Northrop Frye (1912-1991, literary critic)
167. "Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature." (The Critical Path and Other Writings on Critical Theory, 1963-1975)
Northrop Frye (1912-1991, literary critic)
168. "We have revolutionary thought whenever the feeling 'life is a dream' becomes geared to an impulse to awaken from it." (The Great Code: The Bible and Literature, 1982)
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983, futurist)
169. "Thinking is a momentary dismissal of irrelevancies." (Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospect of Humanity, 1969)
169. "Thinking is a momentary dismissal of irrelevancies." (Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospect of Humanity, 1969)
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002, philosopher)
170. "Being that can be understood is language." (Truth and Method, 1960)
170. "Being that can be understood is language." (Truth and Method, 1960)
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002, philosopher)
171. "The more language is a living operation, the less we are aware of it." (Man and Language, 1966)
171. "The more language is a living operation, the less we are aware of it." (Man and Language, 1966)
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002, philosopher)
172. "Kripke tries to sober us up by denying that meaning determines reference... They are not abbreviation for descriptions, but (in Kripke's coinage) 'rigid designators' - that is, they would name the same things in any possible world, including words in which they bearers did not have the properties we, in this world, use to identify them." (Kripke vs. Kant, 1980)
172. "Kripke tries to sober us up by denying that meaning determines reference... They are not abbreviation for descriptions, but (in Kripke's coinage) 'rigid designators' - that is, they would name the same things in any possible world, including words in which they bearers did not have the properties we, in this world, use to identify them." (Kripke vs. Kant, 1980)
Evariste Galois (1811-1832, mathematician)
173. "[This] science is the work of the human mind, which is destined rather than to know, to seek the truth rather than to find it." (Quoted in Mathematics by Morris Kline)
173. "[This] science is the work of the human mind, which is destined rather than to know, to seek the truth rather than to find it." (Quoted in Mathematics by Morris Kline)
Indira Gandhi (1817-1984, politician)
174. "The power to question is the basis of all human progress." (Misbehave: Speak Truth to Power, 2011)
174. "The power to question is the basis of all human progress." (Misbehave: Speak Truth to Power, 2011)
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, activist)
175. "For it is a think beyond the grasp of reason. It transcends reason... I would have you brush aside all rational explanations and begin with a simple childlike faith in God." (Young India, 1931)
175. "For it is a think beyond the grasp of reason. It transcends reason... I would have you brush aside all rational explanations and begin with a simple childlike faith in God." (Young India, 1931)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855, mathematician)
176. "The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves in all their beauty only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it." (Letter to Sophie Germain, 1807)
176. "The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves in all their beauty only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it." (Letter to Sophie Germain, 1807)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855, mathematician)
177. "Mathematics is the queen of the sciences and arithmetic the queen of mathematics." (Quoted in Gauss zum Gedachtniss by Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen)
177. "Mathematics is the queen of the sciences and arithmetic the queen of mathematics." (Quoted in Gauss zum Gedachtniss by Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855, mathematician)
178. "In my opinion his distinction between analytic and synthetic theorems is such a one that either peters out in a triviality or is false." (Quoted in Titan of Science by Guy Waldo Dunnington)
178. "In my opinion his distinction between analytic and synthetic theorems is such a one that either peters out in a triviality or is false." (Quoted in Titan of Science by Guy Waldo Dunnington)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855, mathematician)
179. "I am almost amazed that you consider a professional philosopher capable of no confusion in concepts and definitions. Such things are nowhere more at home than among philosophers who are not mathematicians..." (Quoted in Titan of Science by Guy Waldo Dunnington)
179. "I am almost amazed that you consider a professional philosopher capable of no confusion in concepts and definitions. Such things are nowhere more at home than among philosophers who are not mathematicians..." (Quoted in Titan of Science by Guy Waldo Dunnington)
Murray Gell-Mann (1829-2019, physicist)
180. "You don't need something more to get something more. That's what emergence means." (TED talk on the Beauty and Truth in Physics, 2007)
180. "You don't need something more to get something more. That's what emergence means." (TED talk on the Beauty and Truth in Physics, 2007)
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002, biologist)
181. "...metaphor is often the best agent of conceptual transition." (Bully for Brontosaurus, 1991)
181. "...metaphor is often the best agent of conceptual transition." (Bully for Brontosaurus, 1991)
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002, biologist)
182. "Revolutionary thinkers are not, primarily, gathers of facts, but weavers of new intellectual structures." (Bully for Brontosaurus, 1991)
182. "Revolutionary thinkers are not, primarily, gathers of facts, but weavers of new intellectual structures." (Bully for Brontosaurus, 1991)
James Gow (1854-1923, educator)
183. "...it is not surprising if Pythagoras, having learnt in Egypt that number was essential to the exact description of forms and of the relation of forms, concluded that number was the cause of form and so of every other quality. Number, he inferred, is quantity and quantity is form and form is quantity." (A Short History of Greek Mathematics, 1884)
183. "...it is not surprising if Pythagoras, having learnt in Egypt that number was essential to the exact description of forms and of the relation of forms, concluded that number was the cause of form and so of every other quality. Number, he inferred, is quantity and quantity is form and form is quantity." (A Short History of Greek Mathematics, 1884)
Hermann Grassman (1809-1877, mathematician)
184. "I define as a unit any magnitude that can serve for the numerical derivation of a series of magnitudes..." (Ausdehnungslehre, 1844)
184. "I define as a unit any magnitude that can serve for the numerical derivation of a series of magnitudes..." (Ausdehnungslehre, 1844)
Robert Graves (1895-1985, poet)
185. "Abstract reason, formerly the servant of practical human reasons, has everywhere become its master and denies poetry any excuse for existence. Though philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves." (The Crane Bag, 1969)
185. "Abstract reason, formerly the servant of practical human reasons, has everywhere become its master and denies poetry any excuse for existence. Though philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves." (The Crane Bag, 1969)
Robert Graves (1895-1985, poet)
186. "Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer." (Quoted in Coaching the Mental Game by H.A. Dorfman and Carlos Tosca)
186. "Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer." (Quoted in Coaching the Mental Game by H.A. Dorfman and Carlos Tosca)
Alexander Grothendieck (1928-2014, mathematician)
187. "The introduction of the digit 0 or the group concept was general nonsense too, and mathematics was more or less stagnating for thousands of years because nobody was around to take such childish steps..." (Quoted in Analogy, Concepts and methodologies in Mathematics by Ronald Brown and Timothy Porter)
187. "The introduction of the digit 0 or the group concept was general nonsense too, and mathematics was more or less stagnating for thousands of years because nobody was around to take such childish steps..." (Quoted in Analogy, Concepts and methodologies in Mathematics by Ronald Brown and Timothy Porter)
Jurgen Habermas (1929-2026, philosopher)
188. "Reaching and understanding is the process of bringing about an agreement on the presupposed basis of validity claims that are mutually recognized." (On the Pragmatics of Communication, 1998)
188. "Reaching and understanding is the process of bringing about an agreement on the presupposed basis of validity claims that are mutually recognized." (On the Pragmatics of Communication, 1998)
Jurgen Habermas (1929-2026, philosopher)
189. "The task of universal pragmatics is to identify and reconstruct universal conditions of possible mutual understanding." (On the Pragmatics of Communication, 1998)
189. "The task of universal pragmatics is to identify and reconstruct universal conditions of possible mutual understanding." (On the Pragmatics of Communication, 1998)
Jurgen Habermas (1929-2026, philosopher)
190. "Language is not a kind of private property. No one possesses exclusive rights over the common medium of the communicative practices we must intersubjectively share." (The Future of Human Nature, 2003)
190. "Language is not a kind of private property. No one possesses exclusive rights over the common medium of the communicative practices we must intersubjectively share." (The Future of Human Nature, 2003)
Jurgen Habermas (1929-2026, philosopher)
191. "The speaker must choose a comprehensible [verstandlich] expression so that the speaker and hearer can understand another." (Quoted in Critical Heuristics of Social Plannino by Werner Ulrich)
Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788, philosopher)
192. "Poetry is the mother tongue of the human race." (Samthliche Werken, 1730-1788)
192. "Poetry is the mother tongue of the human race." (Samthliche Werken, 1730-1788)
Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788, philosopher)
193. "Reason is language - logos." (Breifwechsel, 1955)
193. "Reason is language - logos." (Breifwechsel, 1955)
Richard Hamming (1915-1998, mathematician)
194. "A solution which does not prepare for the next round with some increased insight is hardly a solution at all." (The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, 1997)
194. "A solution which does not prepare for the next round with some increased insight is hardly a solution at all." (The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, 1997)
Sam Harris (1967-now, philosopher)
195. "The problem with faith, is that it really is a conversation stopper. Faith is a declaration of immunity to the powers of conversation. It is reason, why you do not have to give reasons, for what you believe." (The View from the End of the World, 2005)
195. "The problem with faith, is that it really is a conversation stopper. Faith is a declaration of immunity to the powers of conversation. It is reason, why you do not have to give reasons, for what you believe." (The View from the End of the World, 2005)
Sam Harris (1967-now, philosopher)
196. "I don't know what happens after the physical brain dies. I don't know what the relationship between consciousness and the physical world is. I don't think anyone does know." (Big Think interview, 2007)
196. "I don't know what happens after the physical brain dies. I don't know what the relationship between consciousness and the physical world is. I don't think anyone does know." (Big Think interview, 2007)
Sam Harris (1967-now, philosopher)
197. "Consciousness is the one thing in this universe that cannot be an illusion." (Waking Up, 2014)
197. "Consciousness is the one thing in this universe that cannot be an illusion." (Waking Up, 2014)
Stephen Hawking (1942-2018, physicist)
198. "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it." (Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind, BBC, 2014)
198. "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it." (Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind, BBC, 2014)
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, writer)
199. "All that is worth remembering in life, is the poetry of it." (Lectures on the English Poets, 1818)
199. "All that is worth remembering in life, is the poetry of it." (Lectures on the English Poets, 1818)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831, philosopher)
200. "The objects of philosophy, it is true, are upon the whole the same as religion. In both the object is truth, in that supreme sense in which God and god God is the truth." (Science of Logic, 1812)
200. "The objects of philosophy, it is true, are upon the whole the same as religion. In both the object is truth, in that supreme sense in which God and god God is the truth." (Science of Logic, 1812)
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976, philosopher)
201. "The great thinker is one who can hear what is greatest in the work of other 'greats' and who can transform it in an original manner." (Nietzsche, 1961)
201. "The great thinker is one who can hear what is greatest in the work of other 'greats' and who can transform it in an original manner." (Nietzsche, 1961)
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988, writer)
202. "I've never understood how God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run the universe." (Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961)
202. "I've never understood how God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run the universe." (Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961)
Heraclitus (c. 6th - 5th centuries BC, philosopher)
203. "It is wise to listen, not to me but to the word and to confess that all things are one." (Fragment 50)
203. "It is wise to listen, not to me but to the word and to confess that all things are one." (Fragment 50)
David Hilbert (1862-1943, mathematician)
204. "The organic unity of mathematics is inherent in the nature of this science for mathematics is the foundation of all exact knowledge of natural phenomena." (Mathematical Problems, 1900)
204. "The organic unity of mathematics is inherent in the nature of this science for mathematics is the foundation of all exact knowledge of natural phenomena." (Mathematical Problems, 1900)
David Hilbert (1862-1943, mathematician)
205. "To new concepts, correspond necessarily, new signs. These we choose in such a way that they remind us of the phenomena which were the occasion for the formation of the new concept." (Mathematical Problems, 1900)
205. "To new concepts, correspond necessarily, new signs. These we choose in such a way that they remind us of the phenomena which were the occasion for the formation of the new concept." (Mathematical Problems, 1900)
Lancelot Hogben (1895-1975, zoologist)
206. "In communicating information about different sorts of things in the world, primitive man first learned to substitute crude pictures for speech to record seasonal occurrence for future use... As time went on the pictorial character of writing became less recognizable." (Mathematics for the Million, 1936)
206. "In communicating information about different sorts of things in the world, primitive man first learned to substitute crude pictures for speech to record seasonal occurrence for future use... As time went on the pictorial character of writing became less recognizable." (Mathematics for the Million, 1936)
Mark Hopkins (1802-1887, educator)
207. "Language is the picture and counterpart of thought." (Dedication of Williston Seminary, 1841)
207. "Language is the picture and counterpart of thought." (Dedication of Williston Seminary, 1841)
Adam Horowitz (screenwriter), Edward Kitsis (screenwriter):
208. "What do you think stories are for? These stories are classics. There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense." (Once Upon a Time, 2011)
208. "What do you think stories are for? These stories are classics. There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense." (Once Upon a Time, 2011)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
209. "Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
209. "Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
210. "Reason is nothing but a wonderful and intelligible instinct in our souls." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
210. "Reason is nothing but a wonderful and intelligible instinct in our souls." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
211. "All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it." (Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, 1741)
211. "All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it." (Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, 1741)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
212. "The cause must be prior to the effect." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
212. "The cause must be prior to the effect." (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
213. "I say, then, that belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
214. "No conclusions can be more agreeable to skepticism than such as make discoveries concerning the weakness and narrow limits of human reason and capacity." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
214. "No conclusions can be more agreeable to skepticism than such as make discoveries concerning the weakness and narrow limits of human reason and capacity." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
215. "The experimental reasoning itself, which we possess in common with beasts, and on which the whole conduct of life depends, is nothing but a species of instinct or mechanical power, that acts in us unknown to ourselves." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
215. "The experimental reasoning itself, which we possess in common with beasts, and on which the whole conduct of life depends, is nothing but a species of instinct or mechanical power, that acts in us unknown to ourselves." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
216. "We may change the name of things; but their nature and their operation on the understanding never change." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
216. "We may change the name of things; but their nature and their operation on the understanding never change." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
217. "Epicurus's old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent? Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent? Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779)
217. "Epicurus's old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent? Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent? Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779)
David Hume (1711-1776, philosopher)
218. "What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe." (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779)
218. "What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe." (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779)
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963, writer)
219. "Words are good servants but bad masters." (Quoted in This Timeless Moment by Laura Huxley)
219. "Words are good servants but bad masters." (Quoted in This Timeless Moment by Laura Huxley)
Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994, playwright)
220. "It is not the answer that enlightens but the question." (Quoted in 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer by Chris Clarke-Epstein)
220. "It is not the answer that enlightens but the question." (Quoted in 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer by Chris Clarke-Epstein)
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (1804-1851, mathematician)
221. "Any progress in the theory of partial differential equations must bring about a progress in mechanics." (Lectures on Dynamics, 1842)
221. "Any progress in the theory of partial differential equations must bring about a progress in mechanics." (Lectures on Dynamics, 1842)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
222. "Every way of classifying a thing is but a way of handling it for some particular purpose." (The Sentiment of Rationality, 1882)
222. "Every way of classifying a thing is but a way of handling it for some particular purpose." (The Sentiment of Rationality, 1882)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
223. "That nature will follow tomorrow the same laws that she follows today is, they admit, a truth which no man can know; but in the interest of cognition as well as of action we must postulate or assume it." (The Sentiment of Rationality, 1882)
223. "That nature will follow tomorrow the same laws that she follows today is, they admit, a truth which no man can know; but in the interest of cognition as well as of action we must postulate or assume it." (The Sentiment of Rationality, 1882)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
224. "I believe the pragmatic way of taking religion to be the deeper way. It gives it body as well as soul, it makes it claim, as everything real must claim, some characteristic realm of fact as its very own." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
224. "I believe the pragmatic way of taking religion to be the deeper way. It gives it body as well as soul, it makes it claim, as everything real must claim, some characteristic realm of fact as its very own." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
225. "[Religion] becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
225. "[Religion] becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
226. "Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
226. "Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
227. "The higher and lower feelings, the useful and the erring impulses, begin by being a comparative chaos within us - they must end by forming a stable system of functions in right subordination. Unhappiness is apt to characterize the period of order making and struggle." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
227. "The higher and lower feelings, the useful and the erring impulses, begin by being a comparative chaos within us - they must end by forming a stable system of functions in right subordination. Unhappiness is apt to characterize the period of order making and struggle." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
228. "The saintly character is the character for which spiritual emotions are the habitual centre of the personal energy; and there is a certain composite photograph of universal saintliness, the same in all religions, of which the features can easily be traced." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
228. "The saintly character is the character for which spiritual emotions are the habitual centre of the personal energy; and there is a certain composite photograph of universal saintliness, the same in all religions, of which the features can easily be traced." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
229. "There are moments of sentimental and mystical experience... that carry an enormous sense of inner authority and illumination when they come. But they come seldom, and they do not come to everyone; and the rest of life makes either no connection with them, or tends to contradict them more than it confirms them." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
229. "There are moments of sentimental and mystical experience... that carry an enormous sense of inner authority and illumination when they come. But they come seldom, and they do not come to everyone; and the rest of life makes either no connection with them, or tends to contradict them more than it confirms them." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1903)
William James (1842-1910, philosopher)
230. "The union of the mathematician with the poet, fervor with measure, passion with correctness, this surely is the ideal." (Collected Essays and Reviews, 1920)
230. "The union of the mathematician with the poet, fervor with measure, passion with correctness, this surely is the ideal." (Collected Essays and Reviews, 1920)
James Jeans (1877-1946, physicist)
231. "Today there is a wide measure of agreement, which on the physical side of science approaches almost to unanimity, that the stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe beings to look more like a great thought than like a great machine." (The Mysteries of the Universe, 1930)
231. "Today there is a wide measure of agreement, which on the physical side of science approaches almost to unanimity, that the stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe beings to look more like a great thought than like a great machine." (The Mysteries of the Universe, 1930)
William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882, economist)
232. "In reality, there is no such thing as an exact science." (The Theory of Political Economy, 1871)
232. "In reality, there is no such thing as an exact science." (The Theory of Political Economy, 1871)
William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882, economist)
233. "I shall endeavor to show that induction is really the inverse process of deduction." (The Principles of Science, 1874)
233. "I shall endeavor to show that induction is really the inverse process of deduction." (The Principles of Science, 1874)
Jinasena (c. 770 - 850 AD, Jain monk)
234. "Some foolish men declare that creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that made this first and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression." (Mahapurana, 9th cen AD)
234. "Some foolish men declare that creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that made this first and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression." (Mahapurana, 9th cen AD)
John of Salisbury (c. 1110-1180, philosopher)
235. "There thus developed two branches of philosophy, natural and moral, which are also called ethics and physics." (The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury, 1159)
235. "There thus developed two branches of philosophy, natural and moral, which are also called ethics and physics." (The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury, 1159)
John of Salisbury (c. 1110-1180, philosopher)
236. "Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects make the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint." (Policraticus, 1159)
236. "Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects make the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint." (Policraticus, 1159)
Carl Jung (1875-1961, psychologist)
237. "We should not pretend to understand the world only by intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgement of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy." (Psychological Types, 1921)
237. "We should not pretend to understand the world only by intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgement of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy." (Psychological Types, 1921)
Carl Jung (1875-1961, psychologist)
238. "Every civilized human being, whatever his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche." (Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933)
238. "Every civilized human being, whatever his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche." (Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933)
Carl Jung (1875-1961, psychologist)
239. "Not for a moment dare we succumb tot he illusion that an archetype can be finally explained and disposed of... The archetype - let us never forget this - is a psychic organ present in all of us." (The Psychology of the Child Archetype, 1941)
239. "Not for a moment dare we succumb tot he illusion that an archetype can be finally explained and disposed of... The archetype - let us never forget this - is a psychic organ present in all of us." (The Psychology of the Child Archetype, 1941)
Carl Jung (1875-1961, psychologist)
240. "Metaphysical assertions, however, are statements of the psyche, and are therefore psychological." (Psyche and Symbol, 1958)
240. "Metaphysical assertions, however, are statements of the psyche, and are therefore psychological." (Psyche and Symbol, 1958)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
241. "All thought must, directly or indirectly, by way of certain characters, relate ultimately to intuitions and therefore, with us, to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be give to us." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
241. "All thought must, directly or indirectly, by way of certain characters, relate ultimately to intuitions and therefore, with us, to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be give to us." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
242. "All our knowledge falls with the bounds of experience." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
242. "All our knowledge falls with the bounds of experience." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
243. "Mathematics, from the earliest times to which the history of human reason can reach, has followed, among that wonderful people of the Greeks, the safe way of science. But it must not be supposed that it was as easy for mathematics as for logic, in which reason is concerned with itself alone, to find, or rather to make for itself that royal road." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
243. "Mathematics, from the earliest times to which the history of human reason can reach, has followed, among that wonderful people of the Greeks, the safe way of science. But it must not be supposed that it was as easy for mathematics as for logic, in which reason is concerned with itself alone, to find, or rather to make for itself that royal road." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
244. "Philosophical knowledge is the knowledge gained by reason from concepts; mathematical knowledge is the knowledge gained by reason from the construction of concepts." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
244. "Philosophical knowledge is the knowledge gained by reason from concepts; mathematical knowledge is the knowledge gained by reason from the construction of concepts." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
245. "That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt. For how is it possible that the faculty of cognition should be awakened into exercise otherwise than by means of object which affect our senses and partly of themselves produce representations, partly rouse our powers of understanding into activity, to compare, to connect, or to separate these, and so to convert the raw material of our sensuous impressions into a knowledge of objects, which is call experience?" (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
245. "That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt. For how is it possible that the faculty of cognition should be awakened into exercise otherwise than by means of object which affect our senses and partly of themselves produce representations, partly rouse our powers of understanding into activity, to compare, to connect, or to separate these, and so to convert the raw material of our sensuous impressions into a knowledge of objects, which is call experience?" (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
246. "The science of mathematics presents the most brilliant example of how pure reason may successfully enlarge its domain without the aid of experience." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
246. "The science of mathematics presents the most brilliant example of how pure reason may successfully enlarge its domain without the aid of experience." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
247. "Thus only has the study of nature entered on the secure method of a science, after having for many centuries done nothing but grope in the dark." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
247. "Thus only has the study of nature entered on the secure method of a science, after having for many centuries done nothing but grope in the dark." (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
248. "People like to be honored, so people imagine that God also wants to be honored. They forget that the fulfillment of duty towards men is the only honor adequate to him." (Quoted in German Thought by Karl Hillebrand)
248. "People like to be honored, so people imagine that God also wants to be honored. They forget that the fulfillment of duty towards men is the only honor adequate to him." (Quoted in German Thought by Karl Hillebrand)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804, philosopher)
249. "Intuitions and concepts constitute... the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, not intuition without concepts can yield knowledge." (Quoted in Twelve Great Philosophers by Wayne Pomerleau)
249. "Intuitions and concepts constitute... the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, not intuition without concepts can yield knowledge." (Quoted in Twelve Great Philosophers by Wayne Pomerleau)
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946, economist)
250. "Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking." (New Statesman and the Nation, 1933)
250. "Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking." (New Statesman and the Nation, 1933)
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946, economist)
251. "I have now reached a stage in the argument where I have to choose between being too definite or being too vague. If I set forth a concrete proposal in all its particulars, I expose myself to a hundred criticisms on points not essential to the principle of the plan. If I go further in the use of figures for illustration, I am involved more and more in guess-work; and I run the risk of getting the reader bogged in details which may be inaccurate and could certainly be amended without injury to the main fabric. Yet if I restrict myself to generalities, I do not give the reader enough to bite on; and am in fact shirking the issue, since the size, the order of magnitude, of the factors involved is not an irrelevant detail." (How to Pay for the War, 1940)
251. "I have now reached a stage in the argument where I have to choose between being too definite or being too vague. If I set forth a concrete proposal in all its particulars, I expose myself to a hundred criticisms on points not essential to the principle of the plan. If I go further in the use of figures for illustration, I am involved more and more in guess-work; and I run the risk of getting the reader bogged in details which may be inaccurate and could certainly be amended without injury to the main fabric. Yet if I restrict myself to generalities, I do not give the reader enough to bite on; and am in fact shirking the issue, since the size, the order of magnitude, of the factors involved is not an irrelevant detail." (How to Pay for the War, 1940)
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, philosopher)
252. "One must learn to know oneself before knowing anything else. Not until a person has inwardly understood himself and then sees the course he is to take does his life gain peace and meaning." (The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard, 1835)
252. "One must learn to know oneself before knowing anything else. Not until a person has inwardly understood himself and then sees the course he is to take does his life gain peace and meaning." (The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard, 1835)
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, philosopher)
253. "Above all, every science must vigorously lay hold of its own beginning and not live in complicated relations with other sciences." (Concept of Anxiety, 1844)
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, philosopher)
254. "As soon as I am outside my religious understanding, I feel as an insect with which children are playing must feel, because life seems to have dealt with me so unmercifully." (Stages on Life's Way, 1845)
254. "As soon as I am outside my religious understanding, I feel as an insect with which children are playing must feel, because life seems to have dealt with me so unmercifully." (Stages on Life's Way, 1845)
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, philosopher)
255. "Faith does not result from straightforward scholarly deliberation, nor does it come directly; on the contrary in this objectivity one loses that infinite personal, impassioned interestedness, which is the condition of faith, the everywhere and nowhere in which faith can come into existence." (Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, 1846)
Gina Kolata (1948-now, journalist)
258. "A computer program written by researchers at Argonne National Library in Illinois has come up with a major mathematical proof that would have been called creative if a human had though of it. In doing so, the computer has for the first time, got a toehold into pure mathematics, a field described by its practitioners as more of an art form than a science." (With Major Math Proof, Brute Computers Show Flash of Reasoning Power, 1996)
255. "Faith does not result from straightforward scholarly deliberation, nor does it come directly; on the contrary in this objectivity one loses that infinite personal, impassioned interestedness, which is the condition of faith, the everywhere and nowhere in which faith can come into existence." (Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, 1846)
Felix Klein (1849-1925, mathematician)
256. "Mathematics in general is fundamentally the science of self-evident things." (Awendung der Differential-und Integralechnung auf Geometrie, 1920)
256. "Mathematics in general is fundamentally the science of self-evident things." (Awendung der Differential-und Integralechnung auf Geometrie, 1920)
Morris Klein (1908-1992, mathematician)
257. "Radio waves and light waves operate in a physical darkness illuminated only for those who would carry the torch of mathematics." (Mathematics and the Physical World, 1959)
257. "Radio waves and light waves operate in a physical darkness illuminated only for those who would carry the torch of mathematics." (Mathematics and the Physical World, 1959)
Gina Kolata (1948-now, journalist)
258. "A computer program written by researchers at Argonne National Library in Illinois has come up with a major mathematical proof that would have been called creative if a human had though of it. In doing so, the computer has for the first time, got a toehold into pure mathematics, a field described by its practitioners as more of an art form than a science." (With Major Math Proof, Brute Computers Show Flash of Reasoning Power, 1996)
Andrey Kolmogorov (1903-1987, mathematician)
259. "The epistemological value of probability theory is based on the fact that chance phenomena, considered collectively and on a grand scale, create non-random regularity." (Limit Distributions for Sums of Independent Random Variables, 1954)
259. "The epistemological value of probability theory is based on the fact that chance phenomena, considered collectively and on a grand scale, create non-random regularity." (Limit Distributions for Sums of Independent Random Variables, 1954)
Alexandre Koyre (1892-1964, philosopher)
260. "Yet the ways of thought, human thought, in its search for truth are, indeed, very strange." (Newtonian Studies, 1965)
260. "Yet the ways of thought, human thought, in its search for truth are, indeed, very strange." (Newtonian Studies, 1965)
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838, poet)
261. "It is amazing how much a thought expands and refines by being put into speech: I should think it could hardly know itself." (Romance and Reality, 1831)
261. "It is amazing how much a thought expands and refines by being put into speech: I should think it could hardly know itself." (Romance and Reality, 1831)
Robert Langlands (1936-now, mathematician)
262. "What I have achieved has been largely a matter of chance. Many problems I though about at length with no success. With other problems, there was an inspiration - indeed, some that astound me today. Certainly the best times were when I was alone with mathematics free of ambition and of pretense and indifferent to the world." (Mathematical Retrospections, 2013)
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827, physicist)
263. "One sees, from this essay, that the theory of probabilities is basically just common sense reduced to calculus; it makes one appreciate with exactness that which accurate minds feel with a sort of instinct, often being able to account for it." (Theorie analytique des probabilities, 1812)
263. "One sees, from this essay, that the theory of probabilities is basically just common sense reduced to calculus; it makes one appreciate with exactness that which accurate minds feel with a sort of instinct, often being able to account for it." (Theorie analytique des probabilities, 1812)
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827, physicist)
264. "Analysis and natural philosophy owe their most important discoveries to this fruitful means, which is called induction. Newton was indebted to it for his theorem of binomial and the principle of universal gravity." (A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, 1814)
264. "Analysis and natural philosophy owe their most important discoveries to this fruitful means, which is called induction. Newton was indebted to it for his theorem of binomial and the principle of universal gravity." (A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, 1814)
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827, physicist)
265. "Man follows only phantoms." (Quoted in Budget of Paradoxes by Augustus De Morgan)
265. "Man follows only phantoms." (Quoted in Budget of Paradoxes by Augustus De Morgan)
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827, physicist)
266. "It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols, each symbol receiving a vale position as well as absolute value; a profound and important idea which appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit." (Quoted in Return to Mathematical Circles by Howard Eves)
266. "It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols, each symbol receiving a vale position as well as absolute value; a profound and important idea which appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit." (Quoted in Return to Mathematical Circles by Howard Eves)
Geoffrey Leech (1936-2014, linguist)
267. "The grammar seen as the system of rules and options underlying usage, has been very stable for the past few centuries. What might have changed though are stylistic conventions or expectations of formality." (Change in contemporary English, 2009)
267. "The grammar seen as the system of rules and options underlying usage, has been very stable for the past few centuries. What might have changed though are stylistic conventions or expectations of formality." (Change in contemporary English, 2009)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716, mathematician)
268. "...I hold that all things take place mechanically as Democritus and Descartes contend against the views of Henry More and his followers, and hold too, nevertheless, that everything takes place according to a living principles and according to final causes..." (Letter to Thomas Burnet, 1697)
268. "...I hold that all things take place mechanically as Democritus and Descartes contend against the views of Henry More and his followers, and hold too, nevertheless, that everything takes place according to a living principles and according to final causes..." (Letter to Thomas Burnet, 1697)
Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006, writer)
269. "As is known, the question of the objectivity or the subjectivity of probability has divided the world of science into two camps. Some maintain that there exists two types of probability, as above, others, that only subjective exists, because regardless of what is supposed to take place, we cannot have full knowledge of it." (A Perfect Vacuum, 1971)
269. "As is known, the question of the objectivity or the subjectivity of probability has divided the world of science into two camps. Some maintain that there exists two types of probability, as above, others, that only subjective exists, because regardless of what is supposed to take place, we cannot have full knowledge of it." (A Perfect Vacuum, 1971)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519, artist)
270. "Fire destroys falsehoods, that is sophistry and restores truth, driving out darkness." (The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Edward MacCurdy)
270. "Fire destroys falsehoods, that is sophistry and restores truth, driving out darkness." (The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Edward MacCurdy)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519, artist)
271. "Truth is the only daughter of time." (The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Edward MacCurdy)
271. "Truth is the only daughter of time." (The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Edward MacCurdy)
George Henry Lewes (1817-1878, literary critic)
272. "Philosophy and art both render the invisible visible by imagination." (The Principles of Success in Literature, 1865)
272. "Philosophy and art both render the invisible visible by imagination." (The Principles of Success in Literature, 1865)
George Henry Lewes (1817-1878, literary critic)
273. "[The artist] uses the simplest phrases without triviality and the grandest without a suggestion of grandiloquence." (The Principles of Success in Literature, 1865)
273. "[The artist] uses the simplest phrases without triviality and the grandest without a suggestion of grandiloquence." (The Principles of Success in Literature, 1865)
Dennis Lindley (1923-2013, statistician)
274. "Facts form a sort of bedrock on which we can build the shifting sands on uncertainty." (Understanding Uncertainty, 2006)
274. "Facts form a sort of bedrock on which we can build the shifting sands on uncertainty." (Understanding Uncertainty, 2006)
Dennis Lindley (1923-2013, statistician)
275. "It's not merely a question of calculating with probabilities but also one of relating the ingredients of your probability statements to reality. You do not need to think only about P(E|K) but also about the precise nature of E and K." (Understanding Uncertainty, 2006)
275. "It's not merely a question of calculating with probabilities but also one of relating the ingredients of your probability statements to reality. You do not need to think only about P(E|K) but also about the precise nature of E and K." (Understanding Uncertainty, 2006)
John Locke (1632-1704, philosopher)
276. "The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others." (Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study, 1693)
276. "The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others." (Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study, 1693)
Amy Lowell (1874-1925, poet)
277. "My words are little jars for you to take and put upon a shelf. Their shapes are quaint and beautiful, and they have many pleasant colors and lusters to recommend them." (A Gift, Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, 1914)
277. "My words are little jars for you to take and put upon a shelf. Their shapes are quaint and beautiful, and they have many pleasant colors and lusters to recommend them." (A Gift, Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, 1914)
Lucretius (c. 99 - 55 BC, philosopher)
278. "What can give us more sure knowledge than our senses? How else can we distinguish between true and the false?" (De Rerum Natura)
278. "What can give us more sure knowledge than our senses? How else can we distinguish between true and the false?" (De Rerum Natura)
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1900-1859, historian)
279. "The merit of poetry, in its wildest forms, still consists in its truth - truth conveyed to the understanding, not directed by the words, but circuitously by means of imaginative associations which serve as its conductors." (Essays on the Athenian Orators, 1824)
279. "The merit of poetry, in its wildest forms, still consists in its truth - truth conveyed to the understanding, not directed by the words, but circuitously by means of imaginative associations which serve as its conductors." (Essays on the Athenian Orators, 1824)
Ernst Mach (1838-1916, physicist)
280. "...the language of everyday life has not yet grown to be sufficiently accurate for the purposes so exact a science as mechanics." (The Science of Mechanics, 1893)
280. "...the language of everyday life has not yet grown to be sufficiently accurate for the purposes so exact a science as mechanics." (The Science of Mechanics, 1893)
Peter Machamer (1942-2023, philosopher), J. E. McGuire (1931-2022, philosopher)
281. "Our analysis of the cogito should make clear that for Descartes its validity is an immediate intuition of a truth contained in an idea grasped in an instant, an intuition that contains no temporal successiveness." (Descartes Changing Mind, 2009)
281. "Our analysis of the cogito should make clear that for Descartes its validity is an immediate intuition of a truth contained in an idea grasped in an instant, an intuition that contains no temporal successiveness." (Descartes Changing Mind, 2009)
Sylvia S. Mader (biologist)
282. "Each biological organization builds upon the previous level and is more complex. Moving up the hierarchy, each level acquires new emergent properties that are determined by the interactions between individual parts." (Biology, 10th edition, 2010)
282. "Each biological organization builds upon the previous level and is more complex. Moving up the hierarchy, each level acquires new emergent properties that are determined by the interactions between individual parts." (Biology, 10th edition, 2010)
Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 - 1280, Dominican friar)
283. "Natural science does not consist in ratifying what others have said, but in seeking the causes of phenomena." (Quoted in The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop)
283. "Natural science does not consist in ratifying what others have said, but in seeking the causes of phenomena." (Quoted in The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop)
Benoit Mandlebrot (1924-2010, mathematician)
284. "People want to see patterns int the world. It is how we evolved. We descended from those primates who were best at spotting the telltale pattern of a predator in the forest or of food in the Savannah. So important is this skill that we apply it everywhere, warranted or not." (Quoted in the Misbehavior of the Markets by Richard Hudson)
284. "People want to see patterns int the world. It is how we evolved. We descended from those primates who were best at spotting the telltale pattern of a predator in the forest or of food in the Savannah. So important is this skill that we apply it everywhere, warranted or not." (Quoted in the Misbehavior of the Markets by Richard Hudson)
Karl Mannheim (1893-1947, sociologist)
285. "In order to be transmuted into knowledge, every perception is and must be ordered and organized into categories." (Ideology and Utopia, 1929)
285. "In order to be transmuted into knowledge, every perception is and must be ordered and organized into categories." (Ideology and Utopia, 1929)
Anthony Mannucci (researcher)
286. "We forget that the patterns themselves transcend the material world. The patterns are not material objects." (Embrace the Infinite: The science of Spirituality, 2012)
286. "We forget that the patterns themselves transcend the material world. The patterns are not material objects." (Embrace the Infinite: The science of Spirituality, 2012)
David Marr (1945-1980, neuroscientist)
287. "The critical act in formulating computational theories turns out to be the discovery of valid constraints on the way the world is structured - constraints that provide sufficient information to all the processing to succeed." (Representation and Recognition of the Spatial Organization of 3D Shapes, 1978)
287. "The critical act in formulating computational theories turns out to be the discovery of valid constraints on the way the world is structured - constraints that provide sufficient information to all the processing to succeed." (Representation and Recognition of the Spatial Organization of 3D Shapes, 1978)
David Marr (1945-1980, neuroscientist)
288. "Vision is a process that produces from images of the external world a description that is useful to the viewer and not cluttered with irrelevant information." (Representation and Recognition of the Spatial Organization of 3D Shapes, 1978)
288. "Vision is a process that produces from images of the external world a description that is useful to the viewer and not cluttered with irrelevant information." (Representation and Recognition of the Spatial Organization of 3D Shapes, 1978)
David Marr (1945-1980, neuroscientist)
289. "To understand the relationship between behavior and brain one has to begin by defining the function or computational goal, of a complete behavior. Only then can a neuroscientist determine how the brain achieves that goal." (Quoted in Decisions, Uncertainty and the Brain by Paul Glimcher)
289. "To understand the relationship between behavior and brain one has to begin by defining the function or computational goal, of a complete behavior. Only then can a neuroscientist determine how the brain achieves that goal." (Quoted in Decisions, Uncertainty and the Brain by Paul Glimcher)
Tim Maudlin (1958-now, philosopher)
290. "If the Greeks had had a mind to reduce mathematics to one field their only choice would have been to reduce arithmetic to geometry." (New Foundations for Physical Geometry: The Theory of Linear Structures, 2014)
Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1698-1759, mathematician)
291. "It seems that the ancient philosopher made the first attempts at this sort of science, in looking for metaphysical relationships between numbers and material bodies." (Accord de differentes loix de la nature qui avoient jusqu'ici paru incompatibles, 1744)
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879, physicist)
292. "In applying dynamical principles to the motion of immense numbers of atoms, the limitation of our faculties forces us to abandon the attempt to express the exact history of each atom, and to be content with estimating the average condition of a group of atoms large enough to be visible. This method... which I may call the statistical method, and which in the present stage of knowledge is the only available method of studying the properties of real bodies, involves an abandonment of strict dynamical principles, and an adoption of the mathematical methods belonging to the theory of probability." (Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics, 1890)
Rollo May (1909-1994, psychologist)
293. "The first thing necessary for a constructive dealing with time is to learn to live in the reality of the present moment. For psychologically speaking, this present moment is all we have." (Man's Search for Himself, 1953)
293. "The first thing necessary for a constructive dealing with time is to learn to live in the reality of the present moment. For psychologically speaking, this present moment is all we have." (Man's Search for Himself, 1953)
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980, media theorist)
294. "All words, in every language, are metaphors." (Laws and Media: The New Science, 1988)
294. "All words, in every language, are metaphors." (Laws and Media: The New Science, 1988)
Peter Medawar (1915-1987, biologist)
295. "We should think of [scientic inquiry] as a logically articulated structure of justifiable beliefs about nature." (Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought, 1969)
Peter Medawar (1915-1987, biologist), Jean Medawar (1913-2005, writer)
295. "We should think of [scientic inquiry] as a logically articulated structure of justifiable beliefs about nature." (Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought, 1969)
Peter Medawar (1915-1987, biologist), Jean Medawar (1913-2005, writer)
296. "A scientist is no more a collector and classifier of facts than historian is a man who compiles and classifies a chronology of the dates of great battles and major discoveries." (Aristotle to Zoos: A Philosophical Dictionary of Biology, 1985)
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961, philosopher)
297. "In reality all things are concretions of a setting..." (Phenomenology of Perception, 1945)
297. "In reality all things are concretions of a setting..." (Phenomenology of Perception, 1945)
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961, philosopher)
298. "Language transcends us and yet we speak." (Phenomenology of Perception, 1945)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873, philosopher)
299. "Induction may be defined the operation of discovering and proving general propositions." (A system of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, 1858)
298. "Language transcends us and yet we speak." (Phenomenology of Perception, 1945)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873, philosopher)
299. "Induction may be defined the operation of discovering and proving general propositions." (A system of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, 1858)
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962, sociologist)
300. "The capacity to shuttle between levels of abstraction, with ease and clarity, is a signal mark of the imaginative and systematic thinker." (The Social Imagination, 1959)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
301. "Computer languages of the future will be more concerned with goals and less with procedures specified by the programmer." (Turing Award Lecture, 1969)
301. "Computer languages of the future will be more concerned with goals and less with procedures specified by the programmer." (Turing Award Lecture, 1969)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
302. "I am inclined to doubt that anything very resembling formal logic could be a good model for human reasoning." (Jokes and their Relation to the Cognitive Unconscious, 1980)
302. "I am inclined to doubt that anything very resembling formal logic could be a good model for human reasoning." (Jokes and their Relation to the Cognitive Unconscious, 1980)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
303. "Just knowing that such states exist, that is, having symbols for them, is half the battle." (Music, Mind and Meaning, 1981)
303. "Just knowing that such states exist, that is, having symbols for them, is half the battle." (Music, Mind and Meaning, 1981)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
304. "What is the difference between merely knowing (or remembering, or memorizing) and understating? ...A thing or idea seems meaningful only when we have several different ways to represent it - different perspectives and different associations." (Music, Mind and Meaning, 1981)
304. "What is the difference between merely knowing (or remembering, or memorizing) and understating? ...A thing or idea seems meaningful only when we have several different ways to represent it - different perspectives and different associations." (Music, Mind and Meaning, 1981)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
305. "For generations, scientists and philosophers have tried to explain ordinary reasoning in terms of logical principles - with virtually no success. I suspect this enterprise failed because it was looking in the wrong direction: common sense works so well because it is an approximation of logic; logic is only a small part of our great accumulation of different, useful ways to chain things together." (The Society of Mind, 1987)
305. "For generations, scientists and philosophers have tried to explain ordinary reasoning in terms of logical principles - with virtually no success. I suspect this enterprise failed because it was looking in the wrong direction: common sense works so well because it is an approximation of logic; logic is only a small part of our great accumulation of different, useful ways to chain things together." (The Society of Mind, 1987)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
306. "Unless we can explain the mind in terms of things that have no thoughts, or feelings of their own, we'll only have gone around in a circle." (The Society of Mind, 1987)
306. "Unless we can explain the mind in terms of things that have no thoughts, or feelings of their own, we'll only have gone around in a circle." (The Society of Mind, 1987)
Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, computer scientist)
307. "It makes no sense to seek a single best way to represent knowledge - because each particular form of expression also brings its particular limitations. For example, logic based systems are very precise, but they make it hard to do reasoning with analogies. Similarly, statistical systems are useful for making predictions, but do not serve well to represent the reasons why those predictions are sometimes correct." (The Emotion Machine, 2006)
307. "It makes no sense to seek a single best way to represent knowledge - because each particular form of expression also brings its particular limitations. For example, logic based systems are very precise, but they make it hard to do reasoning with analogies. Similarly, statistical systems are useful for making predictions, but do not serve well to represent the reasons why those predictions are sometimes correct." (The Emotion Machine, 2006)
Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017, mathematician)
308. "The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers." (Interview with the Guardian, 2014)
308. "The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers." (Interview with the Guardian, 2014)
Charles W. Morris (1901-1979, philosopher)
309. "Science and signs are inseparably interconnected since science both presents men with more reliable signs and embodies its results is systems of signs." (Foundations of the Theory of Signs, 1938)
Charles W. Morris (1901-1979, philosopher)
310. "In this sense, he philosophy of the future will be semiotically oriented. But the nature of this influence will not always be the same, and will depend upon the role which given individuals and societies assign to scientific knowledge." (Signs, Language and Behavior, 1946)
Philip Morrison (1915-2005, physicist)
311. "I live next to the chemists at MIT, but I never see them. I hardly know who they are, yet between physics and chemistry it is hard to know who should study what molecule." (Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True, 1995)
Thomas Nagel (1937-now, philosopher)
312. "The idea of God seems to be the idea of something that can explain everything else, without having to explain itself. But it's very hard to understand how there could be such a thing." (What Does it All Mean? 1987)
311. "I live next to the chemists at MIT, but I never see them. I hardly know who they are, yet between physics and chemistry it is hard to know who should study what molecule." (Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True, 1995)
Thomas Nagel (1937-now, philosopher)
312. "The idea of God seems to be the idea of something that can explain everything else, without having to explain itself. But it's very hard to understand how there could be such a thing." (What Does it All Mean? 1987)
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964, Prime Minister of India)
313. "A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for their action." (Autobiography, 1936)
313. "A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for their action." (Autobiography, 1936)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
314. "Between two absolutely different spheres, as between subject and object, there is no causality, no correctness and no expression; there is at most, an aesthetic relation." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
315. "Every concept arises from the equation of unequal things. Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the same as another, so it is certain that the concept 'leaf' is formed by arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
315. "Every concept arises from the equation of unequal things. Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the same as another, so it is certain that the concept 'leaf' is formed by arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
316. "Everything which distinguishes man from the animals depends on this ability to volatilize perceptual metaphors in a schema and thus to dissolve an image into a concept." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
316. "Everything which distinguishes man from the animals depends on this ability to volatilize perceptual metaphors in a schema and thus to dissolve an image into a concept." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
317. "That immense framework and planking of concepts to which the needy man clings his whole life long in order to preserve himself is nothing but a scaffolding and toy for the most audacious feats of the liberated intellect." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
318. "What is truth? A movable host of metaphors, metonymies and anthropomorphisms: in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which after long usage, seem to a people to be fixed, canonical and binding. Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions - they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force, coins which have lost their embossing and are now considered as metal and no longer as coins." (On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
319. "We obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what is individual and actual; whereas nature is acquainted with no forms and no concepts, and likewise with no species, but only an X which remains inaccessible and undefinable for us." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
320. "But to stand in the midst of the midst of rerum concordia discors and this whole marvelous uncertainty and rich ambiguity in existence without questioning, without trembling with the craving and the rapture of such questioning..." (The Gay Science, 1882)
317. "That immense framework and planking of concepts to which the needy man clings his whole life long in order to preserve himself is nothing but a scaffolding and toy for the most audacious feats of the liberated intellect." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
318. "What is truth? A movable host of metaphors, metonymies and anthropomorphisms: in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which after long usage, seem to a people to be fixed, canonical and binding. Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions - they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force, coins which have lost their embossing and are now considered as metal and no longer as coins." (On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
319. "We obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what is individual and actual; whereas nature is acquainted with no forms and no concepts, and likewise with no species, but only an X which remains inaccessible and undefinable for us." (On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense, 1873)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
320. "But to stand in the midst of the midst of rerum concordia discors and this whole marvelous uncertainty and rich ambiguity in existence without questioning, without trembling with the craving and the rapture of such questioning..." (The Gay Science, 1882)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
321. "To what extent can truth endure incorporation? That is the question; that is the experiment." (The Gay Science, 1882)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
322. "There are no facts. Only interpretations." (Notebooks 1886-1887)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
323. "My problems are new, my psychological horizon frighteningly comprehensive, my language bold and clear; there may well be no books written in German which are richer in ideas and more independent than mind." (Letter to Carl Fuchs, 1887)
321. "To what extent can truth endure incorporation? That is the question; that is the experiment." (The Gay Science, 1882)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
322. "There are no facts. Only interpretations." (Notebooks 1886-1887)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
323. "My problems are new, my psychological horizon frighteningly comprehensive, my language bold and clear; there may well be no books written in German which are richer in ideas and more independent than mind." (Letter to Carl Fuchs, 1887)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
324. "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book - what everyone else does not say in a whole book." (Twilight of the Idols, 1888)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
325. "The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to speak out the most hidden and intimate things." (Quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett)
324. "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book - what everyone else does not say in a whole book." (Twilight of the Idols, 1888)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, philosopher)
325. "The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to speak out the most hidden and intimate things." (Quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett)
Emmy Noether (1882-1935, mathematician)
326. "My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously." (Letter to Helmut Hasse, 1931)
326. "My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously." (Letter to Helmut Hasse, 1931)
Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957, linguist), I. A. Richards (1893-1979, literary critic)
327. "It might... have been supposed that logicians and psychologists would have devoted special attention to meaning, since it is so vital for all the issues with which they are concerned. But this is not the case..." (The Meaning of Meaning, 1923)
327. "It might... have been supposed that logicians and psychologists would have devoted special attention to meaning, since it is so vital for all the issues with which they are concerned. But this is not the case..." (The Meaning of Meaning, 1923)
Nicole Oresme (1325-1382, philosopher)
328. "Every measurable thing except number is imagined in the manner of a continuous quantity." (Treatise on the Configuration of Qualities and Motions, 1350)
328. "Every measurable thing except number is imagined in the manner of a continuous quantity." (Treatise on the Configuration of Qualities and Motions, 1350)
Nicole Oresme (1325-1382, philosopher)
329. "The heavenly bodies move with such regularity, orderliness, and symmetry that it is truly a marvel; and they continue always to act in this manner ceaselessly, following the established system, without increasing or reducing speed..." (Le Livre du Ciel et du Monde, 1377)
329. "The heavenly bodies move with such regularity, orderliness, and symmetry that it is truly a marvel; and they continue always to act in this manner ceaselessly, following the established system, without increasing or reducing speed..." (Le Livre du Ciel et du Monde, 1377)
Osho (1931-1990, religious leader)
330. "In fact, all explanations are against God because explanation demystifies existence. Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation." (Never Born, Never Died, 2005 posthumous)
Alice Oswald (1966-now, poet)
331. "Poems, like dreams, have a visible subject and an invisible one. The invisible one is the one you can't choose, the one that writes itself. Not a message that comes at the end of the poem, more like a pathological condition that deforms every word." (Quoted in Modern Women Poets by Deryn Rees-Jones)
330. "In fact, all explanations are against God because explanation demystifies existence. Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation." (Never Born, Never Died, 2005 posthumous)
Alice Oswald (1966-now, poet)
331. "Poems, like dreams, have a visible subject and an invisible one. The invisible one is the one you can't choose, the one that writes itself. Not a message that comes at the end of the poem, more like a pathological condition that deforms every word." (Quoted in Modern Women Poets by Deryn Rees-Jones)
Thomas Overbury (1581-1613, poet)
332. "Things were first made, then words." (A Wife, 1614)
Ovid (c. 43 BC - 17 AD, poet)
333. "The cause is hidden but the result is known." (Metamorphoses)
332. "Things were first made, then words." (A Wife, 1614)
Ovid (c. 43 BC - 17 AD, poet)
333. "The cause is hidden but the result is known." (Metamorphoses)
Luca Pacioli (c. 1447-1517, mathematician)
334. "The quest for our origin is the sweet fruits' juice which maintains satisfaction in the minds of the philosophers." (Quoted in The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio)
334. "The quest for our origin is the sweet fruits' juice which maintains satisfaction in the minds of the philosophers." (Quoted in The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio)
Richard E. Palmer (1933-2015, philosopher)
335. "Hermeneutics, defined as the study of the understanding of the works of man, transcends linguistic forms of interpretation. It's principles apply not only to works in written form but to any work of art." (Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer, 1969)
335. "Hermeneutics, defined as the study of the understanding of the works of man, transcends linguistic forms of interpretation. It's principles apply not only to works in written form but to any work of art." (Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer, 1969)
Chuck Palahniuk (1962-now, writer)
336. "What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher." (Quoted in Principles of Counseling and psychotherapy by Gerald Mozozierz)
Francis Wayland Parker (1837-1902, educator)
337. "The science of arithmetic may be called the science of exact limitation of matter and things in space, force and time." (Talks on Pedagogics, 1894)
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979, sociologist)
338. "The most elementary communication is not possible without some degree of conformity to the 'conventions' of the symbolic system." (The Social System, 1951)
Benjamin Peirce (1809-1880, mathematician)
343. "When the formulas admit of intelligible interpretation, they are accessions to knowledge; but independently of their interpretation they are invaluable as symbolical expressions of thought." (On the Uses and Transformations of Linear Algebra, 1875)
336. "What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher." (Quoted in Principles of Counseling and psychotherapy by Gerald Mozozierz)
Francis Wayland Parker (1837-1902, educator)
337. "The science of arithmetic may be called the science of exact limitation of matter and things in space, force and time." (Talks on Pedagogics, 1894)
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979, sociologist)
338. "The most elementary communication is not possible without some degree of conformity to the 'conventions' of the symbolic system." (The Social System, 1951)
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, mathematician)
339. "The world is satisfied with words. Few appreciate the things beneath." (Lettes provinciales, 1656-1657)
339. "The world is satisfied with words. Few appreciate the things beneath." (Lettes provinciales, 1656-1657)
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, mathematician)
340. "Geometry is almost the only subject as to which we find truths wherein all men agree; and one cause of this is, that geometers alone regard the true laws of demonstration." (Oeuvres completes, 1648)
340. "Geometry is almost the only subject as to which we find truths wherein all men agree; and one cause of this is, that geometers alone regard the true laws of demonstration." (Oeuvres completes, 1648)
Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932, mathematician)
341. "Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use." (Arthmetices Principia Nova Methodo Exposita, 1889)
341. "Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use." (Arthmetices Principia Nova Methodo Exposita, 1889)
Benjamin Peirce (1809-1880, mathematician)
342. "Symbols are essential to comprehensive argument." (On the Uses and Transformations of Linear Algebra, 1875)
342. "Symbols are essential to comprehensive argument." (On the Uses and Transformations of Linear Algebra, 1875)
Benjamin Peirce (1809-1880, mathematician)
343. "When the formulas admit of intelligible interpretation, they are accessions to knowledge; but independently of their interpretation they are invaluable as symbolical expressions of thought." (On the Uses and Transformations of Linear Algebra, 1875)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
344. "A sign is in a conjoint relation to the thing denoted and to the mind." (On the Algebra of Logic, 1885)
344. "A sign is in a conjoint relation to the thing denoted and to the mind." (On the Algebra of Logic, 1885)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
345. "The consciousness of a general idea has a certain 'unity of the ego' in it, which is identical when it passes from one mind to another." (Man's Glassy Essence, 1892)
345. "The consciousness of a general idea has a certain 'unity of the ego' in it, which is identical when it passes from one mind to another." (Man's Glassy Essence, 1892)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
346. "Feeling which has not yet emerged into immediate consciousness is already affectible and already affected." (The Law of Mind, 1892)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
347. "...these general ideas are not mere words, nor do they consists in this, that certain concrete facts will every time happen under certain descriptions of conditions; but they are just as much, or rather far more, living realities than the feelings themselves out of which they are concreted." (The Law of Mind, 1892)
347. "...these general ideas are not mere words, nor do they consists in this, that certain concrete facts will every time happen under certain descriptions of conditions; but they are just as much, or rather far more, living realities than the feelings themselves out of which they are concreted." (The Law of Mind, 1892)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
348. "Wherever ideas come together they tend to weld into general ideas; and whenever they are generally connected, general ideas govern the connection; and these general ideas are living feelings spread out." (The Law of Mind, 1892)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
350. "The definition of definition is at bottom just what the maxim of pragmatism expresses." (Letter to William James, 1909)
348. "Wherever ideas come together they tend to weld into general ideas; and whenever they are generally connected, general ideas govern the connection; and these general ideas are living feelings spread out." (The Law of Mind, 1892)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
349. "The word 'God' so 'capitalized' (as we Americans say), is the definable proper name signifying 'ens necessarium; in my belief really creator of all three universes of experience." (A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God, 1908)
349. "The word 'God' so 'capitalized' (as we Americans say), is the definable proper name signifying 'ens necessarium; in my belief really creator of all three universes of experience." (A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God, 1908)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
350. "The definition of definition is at bottom just what the maxim of pragmatism expresses." (Letter to William James, 1909)
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, philosopher)
351. "Our whole past experience is continually in our consciousness, though most of it sunk to a great depth of dimness. I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent yet into which we can clearly see but a little way." (Collected Papers, 1931-1958 posthumous)
Roger Penrose (1931-now, physicist)
352. "If you come from mathematics, as I do, you realize that there are many problems, even classical problems, which cannot be solved by computation alone." (A Conversation with Roger Penrose, New York Times, 1999)
352. "If you come from mathematics, as I do, you realize that there are many problems, even classical problems, which cannot be solved by computation alone." (A Conversation with Roger Penrose, New York Times, 1999)
Jordan Peterson (1962-now, psychologist)
353. "A thing isn't quite real until you name it." (Biblical Series IV: Adam and Even: Self-Consciousness, Evil and Death lecture, 2017)
353. "A thing isn't quite real until you name it." (Biblical Series IV: Adam and Even: Self-Consciousness, Evil and Death lecture, 2017)
Philolaus (c. 470 - 385 BC, philosopher)
354. "The world's nature is a harmonious compound of infinite and finite elements..." (The Life of Pythagoras)
354. "The world's nature is a harmonious compound of infinite and finite elements..." (The Life of Pythagoras)
Albert Pike (1809-1891, jurist)
355. "It is not the books of the philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the ancients, that we must look for the footprints of science, and rediscover the mysteries of knowledge." (Morals and Dogma, 1871)
355. "It is not the books of the philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the ancients, that we must look for the footprints of science, and rediscover the mysteries of knowledge." (Morals and Dogma, 1871)
Steven Pinker (1954-now, psychologist)
356. "The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group." (Rules of Language, 1991)
356. "The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group." (Rules of Language, 1991)
Henri Poincare (1854-1912, mathematician)
357. "Does the mathematical method proceed from particular to the general, and, if so, how can it be called deductive?" (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
357. "Does the mathematical method proceed from particular to the general, and, if so, how can it be called deductive?" (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
Henri Poincare (1854-1912, mathematician)
358. "Mathematicians do not study objects, but the relations between objects." (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
358. "Mathematicians do not study objects, but the relations between objects." (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
Henri Poincare (1854-1912, mathematician)
359. "The scientist must set in order. Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
359. "The scientist must set in order. Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." (Science and Hypothesis, 1901)
Henri Poincare (1854-1912, mathematician)
360. "Time and space... it is not nature which impose them upon us, it is we who impose them upon nature because we find them convenient." (The Value of Science, 1905)
360. "Time and space... it is not nature which impose them upon us, it is we who impose them upon nature because we find them convenient." (The Value of Science, 1905)
Henri Poincare (1854-1912, mathematician)
361. "Sociology is the science with the most methods and the least results." (Science and Method, 1908)
361. "Sociology is the science with the most methods and the least results." (Science and Method, 1908)
John Polkinghorne (1930-2021, theologian)
362. "Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective; somehow its something more subtle than that. In some sense it is veiled from us, but it has a structure that we can understand." (Divine Action: interview with Lyndon Harris, 1998)
362. "Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective; somehow its something more subtle than that. In some sense it is veiled from us, but it has a structure that we can understand." (Divine Action: interview with Lyndon Harris, 1998)
Frederick Pollock (1845-1937, jurist)
363. "Circumstantial evidence only raises a probability." (Reg. v. Rowton, 1865)
363. "Circumstantial evidence only raises a probability." (Reg. v. Rowton, 1865)
Pope John Paul II (1920-2005, religious leader)
364. "Every truth - if it really is truth - presents itself as universal even if it is not the whole truth. If something is true, then it must be truth for all people and at all times." (Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 1998)
Pope John Paul II (1920-2005, religious leader)
365. "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth..." (Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 1998)
365. "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth..." (Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 1998)
Karl Popper (1902-1994, philosopher)
366. "The more we learn about the world and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know our knowledge of our ignorance." (Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 1963)
366. "The more we learn about the world and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know our knowledge of our ignorance." (Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 1963)
William Poundstone (1955-now, writer)
367. "Reductionism will not be truly successful until physicists and cosmologists demonstrate that the large-scale phenomena of the world arise for fundamental physics along. This lofty goal is still out of reach." (The Recursive Universe, 1985)
367. "Reductionism will not be truly successful until physicists and cosmologists demonstrate that the large-scale phenomena of the world arise for fundamental physics along. This lofty goal is still out of reach." (The Recursive Universe, 1985)
Elizabeth Prentiss (1818-1878, writer)
368. "No truth can be said as it is until it is seen in its relation to all other truths. In this relation only is it true." (Quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert)
368. "No truth can be said as it is until it is seen in its relation to all other truths. In this relation only is it true." (Quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert)
Hilary Putnam (1926-2016, philosopher)
369. "The physicist who states a law of nature with the aid of a mathematical formula is abstracting a real feature of a real material world, even if he has to speak of numbers, vectors, tensors, state functions, or whatever to make the abstraction." (What is Mathematics, 1979)
369. "The physicist who states a law of nature with the aid of a mathematical formula is abstracting a real feature of a real material world, even if he has to speak of numbers, vectors, tensors, state functions, or whatever to make the abstraction." (What is Mathematics, 1979)
Hilary Putnam (1926-2016, philosopher)
370. "It was Rudolf Carnap's dream for the last three decades of his life to show that science proceeds by a formal syntactic method; today no one to my knowledge holds out any hope for that project." (Quoted in Pragmatism and Realism by James Conant and Ursula M. Zeglen)
370. "It was Rudolf Carnap's dream for the last three decades of his life to show that science proceeds by a formal syntactic method; today no one to my knowledge holds out any hope for that project." (Quoted in Pragmatism and Realism by James Conant and Ursula M. Zeglen)
Aldolphe Quetelet (1796-1874, astronomer)
371. "Social Physics never can pretend to discover laws which will verify themselves in every particular, in the case of isolated individuals." (A Treatise on Man and the Development of his Faculties, 1842)
371. "Social Physics never can pretend to discover laws which will verify themselves in every particular, in the case of isolated individuals." (A Treatise on Man and the Development of his Faculties, 1842)
Aldolphe Quetelet (1796-1874, astronomer)
372. "The more advanced the sciences have become, the more they have tended to enter the domain of mathematics, which is a sort of center towards which they converge." (Quoted in Essai by Edward Mailly)
372. "The more advanced the sciences have become, the more they have tended to enter the domain of mathematics, which is a sort of center towards which they converge." (Quoted in Essai by Edward Mailly)
Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000, philosopher)
373. "The world 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings." (Two Dogmas of Empiricism, 1951)
373. "The world 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings." (Two Dogmas of Empiricism, 1951)
Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000, philosopher)
374. "Logic chases truth up the tree of grammar." (Philosophy of Logic, 1970)
374. "Logic chases truth up the tree of grammar." (Philosophy of Logic, 1970)
Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920, mathematician)
375. "I have no university education but I have undergone the ordinary school course. After leaving school, I have been employing the spare time at my disposal to work at mathematics. I have not trodden through the conventional regular course which is followed in a university course, but I a striking out a new path for myself." (Letter to G. H. Hardy, 1913)
375. "I have no university education but I have undergone the ordinary school course. After leaving school, I have been employing the spare time at my disposal to work at mathematics. I have not trodden through the conventional regular course which is followed in a university course, but I a striking out a new path for myself." (Letter to G. H. Hardy, 1913)
Willis Regier (1948-now, writer)
376. "Quotation might 'appear trivial' yet also be 'an easy entrance to the labyrinth' of other heady problems: propositional attitudes, explicit performances and picture theories of reference." (Quotology, 2010)
376. "Quotation might 'appear trivial' yet also be 'an easy entrance to the labyrinth' of other heady problems: propositional attitudes, explicit performances and picture theories of reference." (Quotology, 2010)
Nicholas Rescher (1928-2024, philosopher)
377. "I have never thought for a moment that if you cannot say it with numbers that it just is not worth saying. But all the same, I do firmly believe that where you cannot put numbers to work you will understand the matter better and more clearly for being able to explain why." (Epistemetrics, 2006)
377. "I have never thought for a moment that if you cannot say it with numbers that it just is not worth saying. But all the same, I do firmly believe that where you cannot put numbers to work you will understand the matter better and more clearly for being able to explain why." (Epistemetrics, 2006)
Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866, mathematician)
378. "It is absurd to assume that upon the rigid earth-crust the organic originated from the inorganic." (Gesammelte Mathematische Werke, 1876)
378. "It is absurd to assume that upon the rigid earth-crust the organic originated from the inorganic." (Gesammelte Mathematische Werke, 1876)
E. V. Rieu (1887-1972, poet)
379. "That translation is the best which comes neareth to giving its modern audience the same effect as the original had on its first audiences." (Translating the Gospels: A Discussion between Dr. E. V. Rieu and Rev. J. B. Phillips, 1955)
379. "That translation is the best which comes neareth to giving its modern audience the same effect as the original had on its first audiences." (Translating the Gospels: A Discussion between Dr. E. V. Rieu and Rev. J. B. Phillips, 1955)
Jane Roberts (1929-1984, writer)
380. "Who needs poetry? All of us do. Poetry has always been the voice of the inner self, the carrier of revelations, dreams and visions that often defy expressions in ordinary prose." (Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time, 1975)
380. "Who needs poetry? All of us do. Poetry has always been the voice of the inner self, the carrier of revelations, dreams and visions that often defy expressions in ordinary prose." (Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time, 1975)
Jane Roberts (1929-1984, writer)
381. "Fact is that science itself must change, as it discovers that its net of evidence is equipped only to catch certain kinds of fish, and that it is constructed of webs of assumptions that can only hold certain varieties of reality, while others escape its net entirely." (The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto, 1981)
Theodore Roszak (1933-2011, writer)
382. "Can those who believe the computer is 'an embodiment of mind' really not tell the difference between so poorly a caricature and the true original?" (The Gendered Atom, 1999)
Patrick Rothfuss (1973-now, writer)
383. "That's why stories appeal to us. They give us the clarity and simplicity our real lives lack." (The Name of the Wind, 2007)
381. "Fact is that science itself must change, as it discovers that its net of evidence is equipped only to catch certain kinds of fish, and that it is constructed of webs of assumptions that can only hold certain varieties of reality, while others escape its net entirely." (The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto, 1981)
Theodore Roszak (1933-2011, writer)
382. "Can those who believe the computer is 'an embodiment of mind' really not tell the difference between so poorly a caricature and the true original?" (The Gendered Atom, 1999)
Patrick Rothfuss (1973-now, writer)
383. "That's why stories appeal to us. They give us the clarity and simplicity our real lives lack." (The Name of the Wind, 2007)
Peter Rowlett (mathematician)
384. "There is no way to guarantee in advance what pure mathematics will later find in application. We can only let the process of curiosity and abstraction take place, let mathematicians obsessively take results to their logical extremes leaving relevance far behind, and wait to see which topics turn out to be extremely useful. If not, when the challenges of the future arrive, we won't have the right place of seemingly pointless mathematics to hand." (The Unplanned Impact of Mathematics, 2011)
Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980, poet)
385. "The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." (The Speed of Darkness, 1968)
John Ruskin (1819-1900, writer)
386. "Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them." (A Joy for Ever, 1857)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
387. "It seems to me now that mathematics is capable of an artistic excellence as great as that of any music, perhaps greater... because it gives in absolute perfection that combination, characteristic of great art, of godlike freedom, with the sense of inevitable destiny; because in fact, it constructs an ideal world where everything is perfect and yet true." (Letter to Gilbert Murray, 1902)
384. "There is no way to guarantee in advance what pure mathematics will later find in application. We can only let the process of curiosity and abstraction take place, let mathematicians obsessively take results to their logical extremes leaving relevance far behind, and wait to see which topics turn out to be extremely useful. If not, when the challenges of the future arrive, we won't have the right place of seemingly pointless mathematics to hand." (The Unplanned Impact of Mathematics, 2011)
Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980, poet)
385. "The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." (The Speed of Darkness, 1968)
John Ruskin (1819-1900, writer)
386. "Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them." (A Joy for Ever, 1857)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
387. "It seems to me now that mathematics is capable of an artistic excellence as great as that of any music, perhaps greater... because it gives in absolute perfection that combination, characteristic of great art, of godlike freedom, with the sense of inevitable destiny; because in fact, it constructs an ideal world where everything is perfect and yet true." (Letter to Gilbert Murray, 1902)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
388. "Mathematics takes us still from what is human, into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the world, but every possible world, must conform." (The Study of Mathematics, 1902)
388. "Mathematics takes us still from what is human, into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the world, but every possible world, must conform." (The Study of Mathematics, 1902)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
389. "I may as well say at once that I do not distinguish between inference and deduction. What is called induction appears to me to be either disguised deduction or a mere method of making plausible guesses." (The Principles of Mathematics, 1903)
389. "I may as well say at once that I do not distinguish between inference and deduction. What is called induction appears to me to be either disguised deduction or a mere method of making plausible guesses." (The Principles of Mathematics, 1903)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
390. "Historical facts, many of them, have an intrinsic value, a profound interest on their own account, which makes them worthy of study, quite apart from any possibility of linking them together by means of causal laws." (On History, 1904)
390. "Historical facts, many of them, have an intrinsic value, a profound interest on their own account, which makes them worthy of study, quite apart from any possibility of linking them together by means of causal laws." (On History, 1904)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
391. "A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgement based upon it." (On the Nature of Acquaintance, 1914)
391. "A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgement based upon it." (On the Nature of Acquaintance, 1914)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
392. "Every great study is not an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
393. "Mysticism is, in essence, little more than a certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
394. "The law of causality, I believe, like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
395. "I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
396. "In a logically perfect language, there will be one word and no more for every simple object, and everything that is not simple will be expressed by a combination of words, by a combination derived of course, from the words for the simple things that enter in, one word for each simple component." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
392. "Every great study is not an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
393. "Mysticism is, in essence, little more than a certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
394. "The law of causality, I believe, like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm." (Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
395. "I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
396. "In a logically perfect language, there will be one word and no more for every simple object, and everything that is not simple will be expressed by a combination of words, by a combination derived of course, from the words for the simple things that enter in, one word for each simple component." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
397. "The reason that I call my doctrine logical atomism is because the atoms that I wish to arrive at as the sort of last residue in analysis are logical atoms and physical atoms." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
397. "The reason that I call my doctrine logical atomism is because the atoms that I wish to arrive at as the sort of last residue in analysis are logical atoms and physical atoms." (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, 1918)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
398. "It must not be supposed that subjective elements are any less 'real' than the objective elements; they are only less important... because they do not point to anything beyond ourselves." (An Outline of Philosophy, 1927)
398. "It must not be supposed that subjective elements are any less 'real' than the objective elements; they are only less important... because they do not point to anything beyond ourselves." (An Outline of Philosophy, 1927)
399. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
"Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little: it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover." (An Outline of Philosophy, 1927)
"Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little: it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover." (An Outline of Philosophy, 1927)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
400. "Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day." (Sceptical Essays, 1928)
400. "Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day." (Sceptical Essays, 1928)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
401. "Man is essentially a dreamer wakened sometimes for a moment by some peculiarly obtrusive element in the outer world, but lapse again quickly into the happy somnolence of imagination." (Sceptical Essays, 1928)
401. "Man is essentially a dreamer wakened sometimes for a moment by some peculiarly obtrusive element in the outer world, but lapse again quickly into the happy somnolence of imagination." (Sceptical Essays, 1928)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
402. "Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say." (The Scientific Outlook, 1931)
402. "Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say." (The Scientific Outlook, 1931)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
403. "I should agree with Plato that arithmetic, and pure mathematics generally, is not derived from perception." (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945)
403. "I should agree with Plato that arithmetic, and pure mathematics generally, is not derived from perception." (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
404. "It has only been very slowly that scientific method, which seeks to reach principles inductively from observation of particular facts, has replaced the Hellenic belief in deduction from luminous axioms derived from the mind of the philosopher." (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945)
404. "It has only been very slowly that scientific method, which seeks to reach principles inductively from observation of particular facts, has replaced the Hellenic belief in deduction from luminous axioms derived from the mind of the philosopher." (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
405. "To demand for certainty is one which is natural man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice." (Philosophy of Laymen, 1946)
405. "To demand for certainty is one which is natural man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice." (Philosophy of Laymen, 1946)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, philosopher)
406. "All traditional logic habitually assumes that precise symbols are being employed. It is therefore not applicable to this terrestrial life but only to an imagined celestial existence... Logic takes us nearer to heaven than other studies." (Quoted in Foundations of Fuzzy Logic by Brian Gaines)
406. "All traditional logic habitually assumes that precise symbols are being employed. It is therefore not applicable to this terrestrial life but only to an imagined celestial existence... Logic takes us nearer to heaven than other studies." (Quoted in Foundations of Fuzzy Logic by Brian Gaines)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944, writer)
407. "Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit." (Flight to Arras, 1942)
407. "Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit." (Flight to Arras, 1942)
J. D. Salinger (1919-2010, writer)
408. "The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's more interesting and all... Oh sure! I like somebody to stick to the point and all. But I don't like them to stick too much to the point." (The Catcher in the Rye, 1951)
408. "The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's more interesting and all... Oh sure! I like somebody to stick to the point and all. But I don't like them to stick too much to the point." (The Catcher in the Rye, 1951)
L. K. Samuels (1951-now, writer)
409. "The more complexity, the more unpredictability and therefore the more uncontrollability. You cannot control what you cannot predict." (Speech at the Libertopia Festival, 2013)
409. "The more complexity, the more unpredictability and therefore the more uncontrollability. You cannot control what you cannot predict." (Speech at the Libertopia Festival, 2013)
L. K. Samuels (1951-now, writer)
410. "Without this creative self-organizing force, the universe would be devoid of biological life, the birth of the stars and galaxies - everything we have come to know." (Chaos Gets a Bad Rap, 2015)
410. "Without this creative self-organizing force, the universe would be devoid of biological life, the birth of the stars and galaxies - everything we have come to know." (Chaos Gets a Bad Rap, 2015)
George Santayana (1863-1952, philosopher)
411. "Chaos is name for any order that produces confusion on our minds." (Quoted in Wisdom for the Soul by Larry Chang)
411. "Chaos is name for any order that produces confusion on our minds." (Quoted in Wisdom for the Soul by Larry Chang)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980, philosopher)
412. "My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think... and I can't prevent myself from thinking." (Nausea, 1938)
412. "My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think... and I can't prevent myself from thinking." (Nausea, 1938)
Fernand de Saussure (1857-1913, linguist)
413. "Thought, chaotic by nature, has to become ordered in the process of its decomposition." (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916)
Fernand de Saussure (1857-1913, linguist)
414. "Writing obscures language; it is not a guise for language but a disguise." (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916)
414. "Writing obscures language; it is not a guise for language but a disguise." (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916)
Marcus du Sautoy (1965-now, mathematician)
415. "That despite the incredible complexity of the world we live in, it can all, ultimately, be explained by numbers... when we don't understand the code, the only way we can make sense of the world is to make up stories." (Conclusion in BBC's The Code)
415. "That despite the incredible complexity of the world we live in, it can all, ultimately, be explained by numbers... when we don't understand the code, the only way we can make sense of the world is to make up stories." (Conclusion in BBC's The Code)
Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921-1999, physicist)
416. "Dead is when chemists take over the subject." (Quoted in Biographical Memoirs by Steven Chu and Charles Townes)
416. "Dead is when chemists take over the subject." (Quoted in Biographical Memoirs by Steven Chu and Charles Townes)
Ernst Schroder (19841-1902, mathematician)
417. "[My aim is] to design logic as a calculating discipline, especially to give access to the exact handling of relative concepts, and, from then on, by emancipation from the routine claims of natural language to withdraw any fertile soil from 'cliche' int he field of philosophy as well. This should prepare the ground for a scientific universal language..." (Quoted in Nineteenth Century Logic Between Philosophy and Mathematics by Volker Peckhaus)
417. "[My aim is] to design logic as a calculating discipline, especially to give access to the exact handling of relative concepts, and, from then on, by emancipation from the routine claims of natural language to withdraw any fertile soil from 'cliche' int he field of philosophy as well. This should prepare the ground for a scientific universal language..." (Quoted in Nineteenth Century Logic Between Philosophy and Mathematics by Volker Peckhaus)
Robert Schuller (1926-2015, televangelist)
418. "Here's how to look at problems: problems are guidelines, not stop signs!" (Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking, 1967)
418. "Here's how to look at problems: problems are guidelines, not stop signs!" (Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking, 1967)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
419. "The assertion fallacy... is the fallacy of confusing the conditions for the performance of the speech act of assertion with the analysis of the meaning of particular words occurring in certain assertions." (Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, 1969)
419. "The assertion fallacy... is the fallacy of confusing the conditions for the performance of the speech act of assertion with the analysis of the meaning of particular words occurring in certain assertions." (Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, 1969)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
420. "Well, what does 'good' mean anyway? ... As Wittgenstein suggested, 'good' like 'game has a family of meanings. Prominent among them is this one: 'meets the criteria or standards of assessment or evaluation'." (Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, 1969)
420. "Well, what does 'good' mean anyway? ... As Wittgenstein suggested, 'good' like 'game has a family of meanings. Prominent among them is this one: 'meets the criteria or standards of assessment or evaluation'." (Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, 1969)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
421. "The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean that but also to mean something else." (Expression and Meaning, 1979)
421. "The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean that but also to mean something else." (Expression and Meaning, 1979)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
422. "I want to block some common misunderstandings about 'understanding': in many of these discussions one finds a lot of fancy footwork about the word 'understanding'." (Minds, Brains and Programs, 1980)
422. "I want to block some common misunderstandings about 'understanding': in many of these discussions one finds a lot of fancy footwork about the word 'understanding'." (Minds, Brains and Programs, 1980)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
423. "I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer, understand what the car and the adding machine understand, namely exactly nothing." (Minds, Brains and Programs, 1980)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
424. "You can never understand one language until you understand at least two." (The Storm Over the University, 1990)
424. "You can never understand one language until you understand at least two." (The Storm Over the University, 1990)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
425. "Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed." (The Rediscovery of the Mind, 1992)
425. "Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed." (The Rediscovery of the Mind, 1992)
John Searle (1932-2025, philosopher)
426. "Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem." (Consciousness and Language, 2002)
426. "Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem." (Consciousness and Language, 2002)
Antonin Sertillanges (1863-1943, philosopher)
427. "We never think alone; we think in company, in a vast collaboration; we work with the wonders of the past and of the present." (The Intellectual Life, 1920)
427. "We never think alone; we think in company, in a vast collaboration; we work with the wonders of the past and of the present." (The Intellectual Life, 1920)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, philosopher)
428. "In the same way as you know that the 3 angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles: that this is sufficient will be denied by no one whose brain is sound..." (Letter to Albert Burgh, 1675)
428. "In the same way as you know that the 3 angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles: that this is sufficient will be denied by no one whose brain is sound..." (Letter to Albert Burgh, 1675)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, philosopher)
429. "Ignorance is no argument." (Ethica Ordine Geomertrico Demonstrata, 1677)
429. "Ignorance is no argument." (Ethica Ordine Geomertrico Demonstrata, 1677)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, philosopher)
430. "Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God, nothing can be or be conceived." (Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata, 1677)
430. "Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God, nothing can be or be conceived." (Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata, 1677)
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946, writer)
431. "Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it." (Form and Intelligibility, 1949)
431. "Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it." (Form and Intelligibility, 1949)
Milton Steinberg (1903-1950, rabbi)
432. "It was Thomas Hobbes who anticipating semantics, pointed out that words are counters, not coins; that the wise man looks through them to reality." (Creed of an American Zionist, 1945)
432. "It was Thomas Hobbes who anticipating semantics, pointed out that words are counters, not coins; that the wise man looks through them to reality." (Creed of an American Zionist, 1945)
Ian Stewart (1945-now, mathematician)
433. "Mathematics links the abstract world of mental concepts to the real world of physical things without being located in completely in either." (Preface to What is Mathematics? by Richard Couant and Herbert Robbins, 1996)
433. "Mathematics links the abstract world of mental concepts to the real world of physical things without being located in completely in either." (Preface to What is Mathematics? by Richard Couant and Herbert Robbins, 1996)
Arthur Sulzberger (1926-2012, businessman)
434. "Information is now ubiquitous. Power is understanding." (Quoted in Information by Martin Kaiser)
434. "Information is now ubiquitous. Power is understanding." (Quoted in Information by Martin Kaiser)
Patrick Suppes (1922-2014, philosopher)
435. "Only the results of the experiment are reported in any serious detail. The procedures are not." (Pragmatism in Physics, 1998)
Alfred Tarski (1901-1983, logician)
436. "The present article is almost wholly devoted to a single problem, the definition of truth. Its task is to construct - with reference to a given language - a materially adequate and formally correct definition of the term 'true sentence'. This problem, which belongs to the classical problems of philosophy, raises considerable difficulties. For although the meaning of the term 'true sentence' in colloquial language seems to be quite clear and unintelligible, all attempts to define this meaning more precisely have hitherto been fruitless, and many investigations in which this term has been used and which stated with apparently evident premises have often lead to paradoxes and antinomies (for which, however, a more or less satisfactory solution has been found). The concept of truth shares in this respect the fate of other analogous concepts in the domain of the semantics of language." (The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages, 1931)
435. "Only the results of the experiment are reported in any serious detail. The procedures are not." (Pragmatism in Physics, 1998)
Alfred Tarski (1901-1983, logician)
436. "The present article is almost wholly devoted to a single problem, the definition of truth. Its task is to construct - with reference to a given language - a materially adequate and formally correct definition of the term 'true sentence'. This problem, which belongs to the classical problems of philosophy, raises considerable difficulties. For although the meaning of the term 'true sentence' in colloquial language seems to be quite clear and unintelligible, all attempts to define this meaning more precisely have hitherto been fruitless, and many investigations in which this term has been used and which stated with apparently evident premises have often lead to paradoxes and antinomies (for which, however, a more or less satisfactory solution has been found). The concept of truth shares in this respect the fate of other analogous concepts in the domain of the semantics of language." (The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages, 1931)
Alfred Tarski (1901-1983, logician)
437. "Logic is justly considered the basis of all other sciences, even if only for the reason that in every argument we employ concepts taken from the field of logic, and that ever correct inference proceeds in accordance with its laws." (Introduction to Logic: And to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences, 1941)
Alfred Tarski (1901-1983, logician)
438. "There can be no doubt that the knowledge of logic is of considerable practical importance for everyone who desires to think and infer correctly." (Introduction to Logic: And to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences, 1941)
437. "Logic is justly considered the basis of all other sciences, even if only for the reason that in every argument we employ concepts taken from the field of logic, and that ever correct inference proceeds in accordance with its laws." (Introduction to Logic: And to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences, 1941)
Alfred Tarski (1901-1983, logician)
438. "There can be no doubt that the knowledge of logic is of considerable practical importance for everyone who desires to think and infer correctly." (Introduction to Logic: And to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences, 1941)
George Temple (1901-1992, mathematician)
439. "Pure mathematics is much more than an armory of tools and techniques for the applied mathematician. On the other hand, the pure mathematician has ever been grateful to applied mathematics for stimulus and inspiration." (100 Years of Mathematics: A Personal Viewpoint, 1981)
Thales of Miletus (c. 626 - 548 BC)
440. "The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself." (Quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds by Henry Southgate)
439. "Pure mathematics is much more than an armory of tools and techniques for the applied mathematician. On the other hand, the pure mathematician has ever been grateful to applied mathematics for stimulus and inspiration." (100 Years of Mathematics: A Personal Viewpoint, 1981)
Thales of Miletus (c. 626 - 548 BC)
440. "The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself." (Quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds by Henry Southgate)
Thales of Miletus (c. 626 - 548 BC)
441. "A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind." (Quoted in The Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius)
441. "A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind." (Quoted in The Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius)
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953, poet)
442. "A good poem helps to change the shape and significance of the universe..." (Quite Early One Morning, 1954)
442. "A good poem helps to change the shape and significance of the universe..." (Quite Early One Morning, 1954)
Stephen Toulmin (1922-2009, philosopher)
443. "A rationally based arithmetic, by contrast, must concern itself with the ideal and final system of number - concepts , and this will provide a unique intellectual standard or template, for judging all men's earlier and cruder proto-arithmetical creations. The analysis of number concepts must therefore be undertaken using the instruments of logic alone." (Human Understanding, 1972)
443. "A rationally based arithmetic, by contrast, must concern itself with the ideal and final system of number - concepts , and this will provide a unique intellectual standard or template, for judging all men's earlier and cruder proto-arithmetical creations. The analysis of number concepts must therefore be undertaken using the instruments of logic alone." (Human Understanding, 1972)
Elmer L. Towns (1932-now, writer)
444. "You don't really understand your thoughts until you express them in words." (How to Study and Teach the Bible, 1997)
444. "You don't really understand your thoughts until you express them in words." (How to Study and Teach the Bible, 1997)
Mark Twain (1835-1910, writer)
445. "To be serious, I write good grammar myself, but not in that spirit, I am thankful to say. That is to say, my grammar is of a high order, though not at the top. Nobody's is. Perfect grammar (persistent, continuous, sustained) is the fourth dimension, so to speak many have sought it, but none has found it." (Quoted in Autobiography of Mark Twain by University California Press)
445. "To be serious, I write good grammar myself, but not in that spirit, I am thankful to say. That is to say, my grammar is of a high order, though not at the top. Nobody's is. Perfect grammar (persistent, continuous, sustained) is the fourth dimension, so to speak many have sought it, but none has found it." (Quoted in Autobiography of Mark Twain by University California Press)
Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936, philosopher)
446. "Logic tends to reduce everything to identities and genera, to each representation having no more than one single and self same content in whatever place, time, or relation it may occur to us." (Tragic Sense of Life, 1913)
446. "Logic tends to reduce everything to identities and genera, to each representation having no more than one single and self same content in whatever place, time, or relation it may occur to us." (Tragic Sense of Life, 1913)
John Vaughn (1603-1674, justice)
447. "The witness swears more generally on his senses, the juror by collection and inference, by the act and force of his understanding." (Bushel's Case, 1670)
447. "The witness swears more generally on his senses, the juror by collection and inference, by the act and force of his understanding." (Bushel's Case, 1670)
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747, writer)
448. "Reason deceives us more often than nature." (Reflections and Maxims, 1746)
448. "Reason deceives us more often than nature." (Reflections and Maxims, 1746)
Voltaire (1694-1778, writer)
449. "I can't imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker." (Quoted in More Random Walks in Science by Robert Weber)
449. "I can't imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker." (Quoted in More Random Walks in Science by Robert Weber)
Ernst von Glasersfeld (1917-2010, philosopher)
450. "What we call knowledge does not and cannot have the purpose of producing representations of an independent reality but instead has an adaptive function." (Quoted in Contextualism in psychological research? by E. John Capaldi and Robert W. Proctor)
450. "What we call knowledge does not and cannot have the purpose of producing representations of an independent reality but instead has an adaptive function." (Quoted in Contextualism in psychological research? by E. John Capaldi and Robert W. Proctor)
Richard von Mises (1883-1953, mathematician)
451. "Mass phenomena to which the theory of probability does not apply are, of course, of common occurrence." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
451. "Mass phenomena to which the theory of probability does not apply are, of course, of common occurrence." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
Richard von Mises (1883-1953, mathematician)
452. "Remember that algebra, with all its deep and intricate problems, is nothing but a development of the four fundamental operations of arithmetic." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
452. "Remember that algebra, with all its deep and intricate problems, is nothing but a development of the four fundamental operations of arithmetic." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
Richard von Mises (1883-1953, mathematician)
453. "The theory of probability can never lead to a definite statement concerning a single event." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
453. "The theory of probability can never lead to a definite statement concerning a single event." (Probability, Statistics and Truth, 1928)
John von Neumann (1903-1957, mathematician)
454. "For, as has been pointed out several times, there is no such thing as a random number - there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course in not such a method." (Monte Carlo Method, 1951)
454. "For, as has been pointed out several times, there is no such thing as a random number - there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course in not such a method." (Monte Carlo Method, 1951)
Isaac Watts (1674-1748, minister)
455. "Synthetic method is that which begins with parts and leads onward to the knowledge of the whole: it begins with the most simple principles and general truths and proceeds by degrees to that which is drawn from them, or compounded of them; and therefore it is called the method of composition." (Quoted in Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by Austin Allibone)
455. "Synthetic method is that which begins with parts and leads onward to the knowledge of the whole: it begins with the most simple principles and general truths and proceeds by degrees to that which is drawn from them, or compounded of them; and therefore it is called the method of composition." (Quoted in Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by Austin Allibone)
Karl Weierstrass (1815-1897, mathematician)
456. "...it is true that a mathematician who is not somewhat of a poet will never be a perfect mathematician." (Letter to Sofia Kovalevskaya, 1883)
456. "...it is true that a mathematician who is not somewhat of a poet will never be a perfect mathematician." (Letter to Sofia Kovalevskaya, 1883)
Andre Weil (1906-1998, mathematician)
457. "It is hard for you to appreciate that mathematics has become so extensive and so complex that it is essential, if mathematics is to stay as a whole and not become a pile of little bits of research, to provide a unification, which absorbs in some simple and general theories all the common substrate of the diverse branches if the science, suppressing what is not so useful and necessary, and leaving in tact what is truly the specific detail of each big problem." (Letter written in 1940)
457. "It is hard for you to appreciate that mathematics has become so extensive and so complex that it is essential, if mathematics is to stay as a whole and not become a pile of little bits of research, to provide a unification, which absorbs in some simple and general theories all the common substrate of the diverse branches if the science, suppressing what is not so useful and necessary, and leaving in tact what is truly the specific detail of each big problem." (Letter written in 1940)
Andre Weil (1906-1998, mathematician)
458. "Every mathematician worthy of the name has experienced the state of lucid exaltation in which one though succeeds another as if miraculously." (The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician, 1992)
458. "Every mathematician worthy of the name has experienced the state of lucid exaltation in which one though succeeds another as if miraculously." (The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician, 1992)
Simone Weil (1909-1943, philosopher)
459. "We should have with each person the relationship of one conception of the universe to another conception of the universe, and not to a part of the universe." (Gravity and Grace, 1948 posthumous)
459. "We should have with each person the relationship of one conception of the universe to another conception of the universe, and not to a part of the universe." (Gravity and Grace, 1948 posthumous)
Simone Weil (1909-1943, philosopher)
460. "I too have a growing inner certainty that there is a deposit of pure gold in me which ought to be passed on. The trouble is that I am more and more convinced by my experience and observation of my contemporaries that there is no one to receive it. It's a dense mass. What gets added to it is a piece with the rest. As the mass grows it becomes more and more dense. I can't parcel it into little pieces." (Lectures on Philosophy, 1959 posthumous)
460. "I too have a growing inner certainty that there is a deposit of pure gold in me which ought to be passed on. The trouble is that I am more and more convinced by my experience and observation of my contemporaries that there is no one to receive it. It's a dense mass. What gets added to it is a piece with the rest. As the mass grows it becomes more and more dense. I can't parcel it into little pieces." (Lectures on Philosophy, 1959 posthumous)
Simone Weil (1909-1943, philosopher)
461. "It is not only in literature that fiction generates immortality. It does it also in life itself. For the substance of our life is almost exclusively composed of fiction." (On Science, Necessity and the Love of God, 1968 posthumous)
Simone Weil (1909-1943, philosopher)
462. "When as a result of what was called the enlightenment in the 18th century, the priest had in fact almost entirely lost their function as guidance. Their place was taken by writers and scientists. In both cases it is equally absurd. Mathematics, physics and biology are as remote from spiritual guidance as the art of arranging words. When that function is usurped by the literature and science it proves there is no longer any spiritual life." (On Science, Necessity and the Love of God, 1968 posthumous)
461. "It is not only in literature that fiction generates immortality. It does it also in life itself. For the substance of our life is almost exclusively composed of fiction." (On Science, Necessity and the Love of God, 1968 posthumous)
Simone Weil (1909-1943, philosopher)
462. "When as a result of what was called the enlightenment in the 18th century, the priest had in fact almost entirely lost their function as guidance. Their place was taken by writers and scientists. In both cases it is equally absurd. Mathematics, physics and biology are as remote from spiritual guidance as the art of arranging words. When that function is usurped by the literature and science it proves there is no longer any spiritual life." (On Science, Necessity and the Love of God, 1968 posthumous)
Morris West (1916-1999, writer)
463. "Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk with language! We have made a cage with words and shoved our God inside!" (The Heretic, 1968)
463. "Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk with language! We have made a cage with words and shoved our God inside!" (The Heretic, 1968)
Richard Whately (1787-1863, philosopher)
464. "No one complains of the rules of grammar as fettering language; because it is understood that correct use is not founded on grammar, but grammar on correct use. A just system of logic of rhetoric is analogous, in this respect, to grammar..." (Elements of Rhetoric, 1828)
Richard Whatlely (1787-1863, philosopher)
465. "The easiest and most popular way of practically refuting... any fallacy is, by bringing forward a parallel case, where it leads to a manifest absurdity." (Elements of Rhetoric, 1828)
William Whewell (1794-1866, philosopher)
466. "It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena." (Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 1840)
William Whewell (1794-1866, philosopher)
467. "The system becomes more coherent as it is further extended. The elements which we require for explaining a new class of facts are already contained in our system." (Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 1840)
465. "The easiest and most popular way of practically refuting... any fallacy is, by bringing forward a parallel case, where it leads to a manifest absurdity." (Elements of Rhetoric, 1828)
William Whewell (1794-1866, philosopher)
466. "It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena." (Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 1840)
William Whewell (1794-1866, philosopher)
467. "The system becomes more coherent as it is further extended. The elements which we require for explaining a new class of facts are already contained in our system." (Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 1840)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
468. "We think in generalities, but we live in detail. To make the past live, we must perceive it in detail in addition to thinking of it in generalities." (The Education of an English Man in the Atlantic Monthly, 1926)
468. "We think in generalities, but we live in detail. To make the past live, we must perceive it in detail in addition to thinking of it in generalities." (The Education of an English Man in the Atlantic Monthly, 1926)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
469. "Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
469. "Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
470. "Some philosophers fail to distinguish propositions from judgments... But in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. The importance of truth is that it adds to interest." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
470. "Some philosophers fail to distinguish propositions from judgments... But in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. The importance of truth is that it adds to interest." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
471. "The chief danger to philosophy is narrowness in the selection of evidence." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
471. "The chief danger to philosophy is narrowness in the selection of evidence." (Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, 1929)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
472. "Every intellectual revolution which has ever stirred humanity into greatness has been a passionate protest against inert ideas." (The Aims of Education, 1929)
472. "Every intellectual revolution which has ever stirred humanity into greatness has been a passionate protest against inert ideas." (The Aims of Education, 1929)
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, philosopher)
473. "There are no whole truths; all truths are half truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." (Dialogues, 1953)
Gerald James Whitrow (1912-2000)
474. "Language itself inevitably introduced an element of permanence into the world. For although speech itself is transitiory, the conventionalized sound of symbols of language transcends time." (Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day, 1988)
474. "Language itself inevitably introduced an element of permanence into the world. For although speech itself is transitiory, the conventionalized sound of symbols of language transcends time." (Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day, 1988)
Eugene Wigner (1902-1995, physicist)
475. "The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve." (The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, 1960)
475. "The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve." (The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, 1960)
Eugene Wigner (1902-1995, physicist)
476. "A mind of von Neumann's inexorable logic had to understand and accept much that most of us do not want to accept and do not even wish to understand." (Quoted in Year Book of the American Philosophical Society)
476. "A mind of von Neumann's inexorable logic had to understand and accept much that most of us do not want to accept and do not even wish to understand." (Quoted in Year Book of the American Philosophical Society)
Bernard Williams (1929-2003, philosopher)
477. "Positivism... implies the double falsehood that no interpretation is needed, and that it is not needed because the story which the positivist writer tells, such as it is, is obvious. The story he or she tells is usually a bad one, and its being obvious only means that it is familiar." (Truth and Truthfulness, 2002)
477. "Positivism... implies the double falsehood that no interpretation is needed, and that it is not needed because the story which the positivist writer tells, such as it is, is obvious. The story he or she tells is usually a bad one, and its being obvious only means that it is familiar." (Truth and Truthfulness, 2002)
Bernard Williams (1929-2003, philosopher)
478. "Together with this demand for truthfulness, however, or (to put it less positively) this reflex against deceptiveness, there is an equally pervasive suspicion about truth itself: whether there is such a thing; if there is, whether it can be more than relative or subjective or something of that kind... The desire for truthfulness drives a process of criticism which weakens the assurance that there is any secure or unqualifiedly stateable truth." (Truth and Truthfulness, 2002)
478. "Together with this demand for truthfulness, however, or (to put it less positively) this reflex against deceptiveness, there is an equally pervasive suspicion about truth itself: whether there is such a thing; if there is, whether it can be more than relative or subjective or something of that kind... The desire for truthfulness drives a process of criticism which weakens the assurance that there is any secure or unqualifiedly stateable truth." (Truth and Truthfulness, 2002)
Charles V. Willie (1927-2002, sociologist)
479. "...Knowledge and understanding are complementary: one without the other is incomplete." (Five Black Soldiers, 1986)
479. "...Knowledge and understanding are complementary: one without the other is incomplete." (Five Black Soldiers, 1986)
Edward Witten (1951-now, physicist)
480. "It is very possible that a proper understanding of string theory will make the space-time continuum melt away... string theory is a miracle through and through." (Quoted in A Theory of Everything by K. C. Cole)
480. "It is very possible that a proper understanding of string theory will make the space-time continuum melt away... string theory is a miracle through and through." (Quoted in A Theory of Everything by K. C. Cole)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
481. "Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
481. "Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
482. "Logic takes care of itself; all we have to do is look and see how it does it." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
482. "Logic takes care of itself; all we have to do is look and see how it does it." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
483. "To believe in a God means to understand the question about the meaning of life. To believe in a God means to see that the facts of the world are not the end of the matter. To believe in God means to see that life has meaning." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
483. "To believe in a God means to understand the question about the meaning of life. To believe in a God means to see that the facts of the world are not the end of the matter. To believe in God means to see that life has meaning." (Notebooks 1914-1916)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
484. "It is quite impossible for a proposition to state that it itself is true." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
484. "It is quite impossible for a proposition to state that it itself is true." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
485. "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
485. "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
486. "The logical picture of the facts is the thought." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
486. "The logical picture of the facts is the thought." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
487. "The world is the totality of facts, not things." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
487. "The world is the totality of facts, not things." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
488. "There are, indeed things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
488. "There are, indeed things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
489. "What can be said at all can be said clearly and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
489. "What can be said at all can be said clearly and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence." (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
490. "Don't think but look." (Philosophical Investigations, 1953 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
491. "What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use." (Philosophical Investigations, 1953 posthumous)
490. "Don't think but look." (Philosophical Investigations, 1953 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
491. "What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use." (Philosophical Investigations, 1953 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
492. "What is the meaning of a word? Let us attack this question by asking first, what is an explanation of the meaning of a word? What does the explanation of a word look like?" (The Blue Book, 1965 posthumous)
492. "What is the meaning of a word? Let us attack this question by asking first, what is an explanation of the meaning of a word? What does the explanation of a word look like?" (The Blue Book, 1965 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
493. "What should we gain by a definition, as it can only lead us to other undefined terms?" (The Blue Book, 1965 posthumous)
493. "What should we gain by a definition, as it can only lead us to other undefined terms?" (The Blue Book, 1965 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
494. "All testing, all confirmation and disconfirmation of a hypothesis takes place already within a system." (On Certainty, 1969 posthumous)
494. "All testing, all confirmation and disconfirmation of a hypothesis takes place already within a system." (On Certainty, 1969 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
495. "A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of discussion." (Culture and Value, 1980 posthumous)
495. "A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of discussion." (Culture and Value, 1980 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
496. "An entire mythology is stored within our language." (Philosophical Occasions, 1993 posthumous)
496. "An entire mythology is stored within our language." (Philosophical Occasions, 1993 posthumous)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
497. "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement." (Quoted in Hitchcock as Philosopher by Robert Yanal)
497. "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement." (Quoted in Hitchcock as Philosopher by Robert Yanal)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, philosopher)
498. "Mine is the first and only world. I want to report the world as I found it." (Quoted in Wittgenstein: A Wonderful Life documentary by Christopher Sykes)
498. "Mine is the first and only world. I want to report the world as I found it." (Quoted in Wittgenstein: A Wonderful Life documentary by Christopher Sykes)
Gene Wolfe (1931-2019, writer)
499. "Evolution teaches us the original purpose of language was to ritualize man's threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later." (The Death of Doctor Island, 1973)
499. "Evolution teaches us the original purpose of language was to ritualize man's threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later." (The Death of Doctor Island, 1973)
Francis Wright (1795-1852, activist)
500. "All that I say is, examine. Look into the nature of things. Search out the grounds of your opinions, the for and the against. Know why you believe, understand what you believe and possess a reason for the faith that is in you..." (A Course of Popular Lectures, 1829)
Edward Young (1683-1765, poet)
501. "A God alone can comprehend a God." (Night Thoughts, 1742)
Tao Yuanming (c. 365 - 427 AD, poet)
502. "God can only set in motion: he cannot control the things he has made." (Substance, Shadow and Spirit)
John Zerzan (1943-now, writer)
503. "Number has only an imposed relationship to what is found in the world." (Why Hope? A Stand Against Civilization, 2015)
500. "All that I say is, examine. Look into the nature of things. Search out the grounds of your opinions, the for and the against. Know why you believe, understand what you believe and possess a reason for the faith that is in you..." (A Course of Popular Lectures, 1829)
Edward Young (1683-1765, poet)
501. "A God alone can comprehend a God." (Night Thoughts, 1742)
Tao Yuanming (c. 365 - 427 AD, poet)
502. "God can only set in motion: he cannot control the things he has made." (Substance, Shadow and Spirit)
John Zerzan (1943-now, writer)
503. "Number has only an imposed relationship to what is found in the world." (Why Hope? A Stand Against Civilization, 2015)
John Ziman (1925-2005, physicist)
504. "A new scientific theory is seldom stated with such clarity by it original author, and usually takes many years to creep into public consciousness." (The Force of Knowledge: The Scientific Dimension of Society, 1976)
504. "A new scientific theory is seldom stated with such clarity by it original author, and usually takes many years to creep into public consciousness." (The Force of Knowledge: The Scientific Dimension of Society, 1976)
