Knowledge
Quotes - The truth is like Salt
“The
truth is like salt. Men want to taste a little, but too much makes everyone
sick.”
―
Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes
“We
now know the basic rules governing the universe, together with the
gravitational interrelationships of its gross components, as shown in the
theory of relativity worked out between 1905 and 1916. We also know the basic
rules governing the subatomic particles and their interrelationships, since
these are very neatly described by the quantum theory worked out between 1900
and 1930. What's more, we have found that the galaxies and clusters of galaxies
are the basic units of the physical universe, as discovered between 1920 and
1930.
...The
young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me
severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood
the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It
follows that the one thing we can say about our modern 'knowledge' is that it
is wrong...
My
answer to him was, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong.
When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think
that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is
flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.
The
basic trouble, you see, is that people think that 'right' and 'wrong' are
absolute; that everything that isn't perfectly and completely right is totally
and equally wrong.
However,
I don't think that's so. It seems to me that right and wrong are fuzzy
concepts, and I will devote this essay to an explanation of why I think so.
When
my friend the English literature expert tells me that in every century
scientists think they have worked out the universe and are always wrong, what I
want to know is how wrong are they? Are they always wrong to the same degree?”
―
Isaac Asimov
“All
our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and
ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”
―
immanuel kant, Critique of Pure Reason
“Dr.
Watson's summary list of Sherlock Holmes's strengths and weaknesses:
"1.
Knowledge of Literature: Nil.
2.
Knowledge of Philosophy: Nil.
3.
Knowledge of Astronomy: Nil.
4.
Knowledge of Politics: Feeble.
5.
Knowledge of Botany: Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons
generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6.
Knowledge of Geology: Practical but limited. Tells at a glance different soils
from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told
me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
7.
Knowledge of Chemistry: Profound.
8.
Knowledge of Anatomy: Accurate but unsystematic.
9.
Knowledge of Sensational Literature: Immense. He appears to know every detail
of every horror perpetrated in the century.
10.
Plays the violin well.
11.
Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12.
Has a good practical knowledge of British law.”
―
Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet
“You
can only be afraid of what you think you know.”
― J.
Krishnamurti
“Those
who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”
―
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections
“That
is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know
nothing about it.”
―
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“To
acquire knowledge, one must study;
but
to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”
―
Marilyn vos Savant
“The
problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we
have known since long.”
―
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
“The
power of human thought grows exponentially with the number of minds that share
that thought.”
―
Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol
“All
men by nature desire to know.”
―
Aristotle, Metaphysics
“Timendi
causa est nescire -
Ignorance
is the cause of fear.”
―
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Natural Questions
“How
little we know of what there is to know. I wish that I were going to live a
long time instead of going to die today because I have learned much about life
in these four days; more, I think than in all other time. I'd like to be an old
man to really know. I wonder if you keep on learning or if there is only a certain
amount each man can understand. I thought I knew so many things that I know
nothing of. I wish there was more time.”
―
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
“Knowing
was a temptation. What you don't know won't tempt you.”
―
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
“Learn
to distinguish the difference between errors of knowledge and breaches of
morality. An error of knowledge is not a moral flaw, provided you are willing
to correct it; only a mystic would judge human beings by the standard of an
impossible, automatic omniscience. But a breach of morality is the conscious
choice of an action you know to be evil, or a willful evasion of knowledge, a
suspension of sight and of thought. That which you do not know, is not a moral
charge against you; but that which you refuse to know, is an account of infamy
growing in your soul. Make every allowance for errors of knowledge; do not
forgive or accept any break of morality.”
―
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
“Let
us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare
to read, think, speak, and write .”
―
John Adams, The works of John Adams,: Second President of the United States
“The
significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our
own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a
Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish
mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace
the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then
let us find ourselves a worthy goal.”
―
Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
“Do
not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a
mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive
yourself.”
― J.
Krishnamurti
“The
only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and
change.”
―
Carl R. Rogers
“Properly,
we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book
should be a ball of light in one's hand.”
―
Ezra Pound
