Mind quotes

Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander

Random Information Design

“The average designer scans whatever information he happens on, consults a consultant now and then when faced by extra-special difficulties, and introduces randomly selected information into forms otherwise dreamt up in the artist's studio of his mind.”

• Source: Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Harvard University Press. ISBN: 9780674627512. Retrieved 2018-03-29 from https://monoskop.org/images/f/ff/Alexander_Christopher_Notes_on_the_Synthesis_of_Form.pdf . Page 4.

• See Also:
  • Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander_quotes
  • Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander_quotes/Random_Information_Design

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Keywords: Design_quotes Information_quotes Consultant_quotes Creativity_quotes Average_quotes Scan_quotes Difficulty_quotes Random_quotes Selection_quotes Form_quotes Dream_quotes Artist_quotes Studio_quotes Mind_quotes

Marcus_Aurelius

Mend A Fault

“To retract or mend a fault at the admonition of a friend in no way hurts your liberty, for it is still your own activity which by means of your own impulse and judgment, and by your own mind, makes you see your mistake.”

• Source: From the book “Meditations” written by Marcus Aurelius, translated by Jeremy Collier, published by Walter Scott, London, England, in 1887. Found in book VIII paragraph 16. Originally written circa 170 CE. Retrieved from https://ia804703.us.archive.org/26/items/meditationsofmar00marc/meditationsofmar00marc_bw.pdf 2024-03-02.

• See Also:
  • Marcus_Aurelius_quotes
  • Marcus_Aurelius_quotes/Mend_A_Fault

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Keywords: Retract_quotes Mend_quotes Fault_quotes Admonition_quotes Friend_quotes Hurt_quotes Liberty_quotes Activity_quotes Impulse_quotes Judgment_quotes Mind_quotes Mistake_quotes Criticism_quotes

Francis_Bello

Facts Alone

“Facts alone, no matter how numerous or verifiable, do not automatically arrange themselves into an intelligible, or truthful, picture of the world. It is the task of the human mind to invent a theoretical framework to account for them.”

• Source: Francis Bello, In Francis Bello, Lawrence Lessing and George A.W. Boehm, Great American Scientists (1960, 1961), 116.

• See Also:
  • Francis_Bello_quotes
  • Francis_Bello_quotes/Facts_Alone

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Keywords: Fact_quotes Confirmation_quotes Truth_quotes Theory_quotes Abstraction_quotes Numerous_quotes Verify_quotes Automatic_quotes Arrange_quotes Intelligible_quotes Picture_quotes World_quotes Task_quotes Human_quotes Mind_quotes Invention_quotes Framework_quotes Account_quotes

Claude_Bernard

Natural Man Arrogant

“Man is by nature metaphysical and proud. He has gone so far as to think that the idealistic creations of his mind, which correspond to his feelings, also represent reality. Hence it follows that the experimental method is by no means primitive or natural to man.”

• Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II page 27. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.

• See Also:
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes/Natural_Man_Arrogant

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Keywords: Metaphysics_quotes Arrogance_quotes Belief_quotes Imagination_quotes Feelings_quotes Reality_quotes Experiment_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mind_quotes Man_quotes Natural_quotes Capable_quotes Creation_quotes Express_quotes Identical_quotes Follow_quotes Method_quotes Proud_quotes Ideal_quotes

Trust

“The great experimental principle, then, is doubt... We must trust our observations or our theories only after experimental verification. If we trust too much, the mind becomes bound and cramped by the results of its own reasoning; it no longer has freedom of action, and so lacks the power to break away from that blind faith in theories which is only scientific superstition.”

• Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 37. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.

• See Also:
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes/Trust

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Keywords: Great_quotes Experimental_quotes Principle_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Trust_quotes Observation_quotes Theory_quotes After_quotes Verification_quotes Mind_quotes Bound_quotes Cramp_quotes Result_quotes Reason_quotes Freedom_quotes Action_quotes Lack_quotes Power_quotes Break_quotes Away_quotes Blind_quotes Faith_quotes Scientific_quotes Superstition_quotes

Experimental Method Scientific

“The experimental method is the scientific method which proclaims the freedom of the mind and of thought.”

• Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 43. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.

• See Also:
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes
  • Claude_Bernard_quotes/Experimental_Method_Scientific

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Keywords: Experimental_quotes Method_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Proclaim_quotes Freedom_quotes Mind_quotes Thought_quotes

Bible_Verses

Pattern of this World (Romans 12:2)

(2) “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

• Source: Romans 12:2, King James Version of the Bible. Online at https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/.

• See Also:
  • Bible_Verses
  • BibleRomans12:2/Pattern of this World

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Keywords: Conformity_quotes Pattern_quotes World_quotes Transformation_quotes Renew_quotes Mind_quotes

Ludwig_Bolztman

Awkward Mind

“How awkward is the human mind in divining the nature of things, when forsaken by the analogy of what we see and touch directly.”

• Source: Ludwig Bolztman in the article ‘Certain Questions of the Theory of Gasses’, published in Nature, Volume 51, Number 1322, 1895-02-28, page 414.
  • https://libquotes.com/ludwig-boltzmann/quote/lbw1s4v

• See Also:
  • Ludwig_Bolztman_quotes
  • Ludwig_Bolztman_quotes/Awkward_Mind

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Keywords:Mind_quotes Thinking_quotes Nature_quotes Analogy_quotes Abstraction_quotes Perception_quotes Awkward_quotes Human_quotes Divining_quotes Forsaken_quotes See_quotes Touch_quotes Direct_quotes

George_E_P_Box

Models are Approximations

“...all models are approximations. Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful. However, the approximate nature of the model must always be borne in mind...”

• Source: George E.P. Box [Co-author with Norman R. Draper], In George E.P. Box, Norman R. Draper, Response Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses (2nd ed. 2007), 414.

• See Also:
  • George_E_P_Box_quotes
  • George_E_P_Box_quotes/Models_are_Approximations

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Keywords: Model_quotes Approximation_quotes Error_quotes Usefulness_quotes Wrong_quotes Nature_quotes Mind_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Great Designers

“A little retrospection shows that although many fine, useful software systems have been designed by committees and built by multipart projects, those software systems that have excited passionate fans are those that are the products of one or a few designing minds, great designers.”

• Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 202.

• See Also:
  • Fred_Brooks_quotes
  • Fred_Brooks_quotes/Great_Designers

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Keywords: Design_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Quality_quotes Software_Quality_quotes Project_Management_quotes Excellence_quotes Software_Management_quotes Retrospection_quotes Fine_quotes Useful_quotes System_quotes Committee_quotes Build_quotes Multipart_quotes Excited_quotes Passionate_quotes Fan_quotes Product_quotes One_quotes Few_quotes Mind_quotes Great_quotes Designer_quotes Management_quotes

Edward_Bulwer-Lytton

Art and Science

"Art and science have their meeting point in method."

• Source: Earl Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Caxtoniana (1875), 303.

• See Also:
  • Edward_Bulwer-Lytton_quotes
  • Edward_Bulwer-Lytton_quotes/Art_and_Science

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Keywords: Art_quotes Science_quotes Mind_quotes Meet_quotes Point_quotes Method_quotes

Octavia_E_Butler

Too Alert

“She was too alert, too alive not to have the kind of mind that probed and reached and got her into trouble now and then.”

• Source: Written by Octavia E. Butler in her story entitled “Wild Seed”. Chapter 1. Written 1980. Published in the compilation book entitled “Seed to Harvest”. Compiled by Octavia E. Butler. Published by Grand Central Publishing, New York, NY in 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-446-69890-0.

• See Also:
  • Octavia_E_Butler_quotes
  • Octavia_E_Butler_quotes/Too_Alert

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Keywords: Alert_quotes Alive_quotes Kind_quotes Mind_quotes Probe_quotes Reach_quotes Trouble_quotes

Samuel_Butler

Scientific Mind

"The best class of scientific mind is the same as the best class of business mind. The great desideratum in either case is to know how much evidence is enough to warrant action. It is as unbusiness-like to want too much evidence before buying or selling as to be content with too little. The same kind of qualities are wanted in either case. The difference is that if the business man makes a mistake, he commonly has to suffer for it, whereas it is rarely that scientific blundering, so long as it is confined to theory, entails loss on the blunderer. On the contrary it very often brings him fame, money and a pension. Hence the business man, if he is a good one, will take greater care not to overdo or underdo things than the scientific man can reasonably be expected to take."

• Source: Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 217.

• See Also:
  • Samuel_Butler_quotes
  • Samuel_Butler_quotes/Scientific_Mind

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Science_quotes Business_quotes Evidence_quotes Action_quotes Desire_quotes Mistake_quotes Suffering_quotes Theory_quotes Fame_quotes Money_quotes Best_quotes Desideratum_quotes Warrant_quotes Buy_quotes Sell_quotes Content_quotes Difference_quotes Blunder_quotes Pension_quotes Overdo_quotes Underdo_quotes

Thomas_Chrowder_Chamberlin

Scientific Study

"In scientific study, or, as I prefer to phrase it, in creative scholarship, the truth is the single end sought; all yields to that. The truth is supreme, not only in the vague mystical sense in which that expression has come to be a platitude, but in a special, definite, concrete sense. Facts and the immediate and necessary inductions from facts displace all pre-conceptions, all deductions from general principles, all favourite theories. Previous mental constructions are bowled over as childish play-structures by facts as they come rolling into the mind. The dearest doctrines, the most fascinating hypotheses, the most cherished creations of the reason and of the imagination perish from a mind thoroughly inspired with the scientific spirit in the presence of incompatible facts. Previous intellectual affections are crushed without hesitation and without remorse. Facts are placed before reasonings and before ideals, even though the reasonings and the ideals be more beautiful, be seemingly more lofty, be seemingly better, be seemingly truer. The seemingly absurd and the seemingly impossible are sometimes true. The scientific disposition is to accept facts upon evidence, however absurd they may appear to our pre-conceptions."

• Source: Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, The Ethical Functions of Scientific Study: An Address Delivered at the Annual Commencement of the University of Michigan, 28 June 1888, 7-8

• See Also:
  • Thomas_Chrowder_Chamberlin_quotes
  • Thomas_Chrowder_Chamberlin_quotes/Scientific_Study

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Keywords: Science_quotes Scholarship_quotes Truth_quotes Induction_quotes Deduction_quotes Bias_quotes Theory_quotes Mind_quotes Dogma_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Reason_quotes Imagination_quotes Compatibility_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Ideals_quotes Absurdity_quotes Impossibility_quotes Evidence_quotes Preconception_quotes Study_quotes Supreme_quotes Vague_quotes Mystical_quotes Expression_quotes Platitude_quotes Special_quotes Concrete_quotes Fact_quotes Principle_quotes Mental_quotes Construction_quotes Play_quotes Doctrine_quotes Spirit_quotes Incompatible_quotes Hesitate_quotes Remorse_quotes Ideals_quotes Beauty_quotes Lofty_quotes Absurd_quotes True_quotes Appear_quotes

William_Kingdon_Clifford

Insufficient Evidence

"To sum up: it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it-- the life of that man is one long sin against mankind."

• Source: William Kingdon Clifford, from the paper entitled 'The Ethics of Belief', published in the Contemporary Review in 1877. Online at http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/Clifford_ethics.pdf retrieved 2023.

• See Also:
  • William_Kingdon_Clifford_quotes
  • William_Kingdon_Clifford_quotes/Insufficient_Evidence

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Keywords: Wrong_quotes Belief_quotes Insufficient_quotes Evidence_quotes Doubt_quotes Mind_quotes Ignorance_quotes Question_quotes Discussion_quotes Sin_quotes Evil_quotes Humanity_quotes Summarize_quotes Teach_quotes Learning_quotes Persuasion_quotes Suppression_quotes Avoid_quotes Reading_quotes Book_quotes Company_quotes Men_quotes Man_quotes Impious_quotes Easy_quotes Disturb_quotes Life_quotes Mankind_quotes

Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

Mind Chaos

“Contrary to what we tend to assume, the normal state of the mind is chaos. Without training, and without an object in the external world that demands attention, people are unable to focus their thoughts for more than a few minutes at a time.”

• Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Flow of Thought”, page 119. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.

• See Also:
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes/Mind_Chaos

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Keywords: Contrary_quotes Assume_quotes Normal_quotes State_quotes Mind_quotes Chaos_quotes Train_quotes Object_quotes External_quotes World_quotes Demand_quotes Attention_quotes People_quotes Unable_quotes Focus_quotes Thought_quotes Few_quotes Minute_quotes Time_quotes

Daydreaming

“One of the simplest ways to use the mind is daydreaming: playing out some sequence of events as mental images. But even this apparently easy way to order thought is beyond the range of many people... Daydreaming not only helps create emotional order by compensating in imagination for unpleasant reality — as when a person can reduce frustration and aggression against someone who has caused injury by visualizing a situation in which the aggressor is punished — but it also allows children and adults to rehearse imaginary situations so that the best strategy for confronting them may be adopted, alternative options considered, unanticipated consequences discovered — all results that help increase the complexity of consciousness. And, of course, when used with skill, daydreaming can be very enjoyable.”

• Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Flow of Thought”, page 120. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.

• See Also:
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes/Daydreaming

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Keywords: Simple_quotes Way_quotes Mind_quotes Daydreaming_quotes Play_quotes Event_quotes Mental_quotes Image_quotes Order_quotes Thought_quotes Beyond_quotes Range_quotes People_quotes Help_quotes Emotion_quotes Compensate_quotes Imagination_quotes Unpleasant_quotes Reality_quotes Reduce_quotes Person_quotes Frustration_quotes Aggression_quotes Cause_quotes Injury_quotes Visualize_quotes Situation_quotes Punish_quotes Allow_quotes Reherse_quotes Best_quotes Strategy_quotes Optimization_quotes Confront_quotes Adopt_quotes Alternative_quotes Unanticipated_quotes Consequence_quotes Discover_quotes Result_quotes Increase_quotes Complexity_quotes Consciousness_quotes Use_quotes Skill_quotes Enjoyable_quotes

Writing

“It is never a waste to write for intrinsic reasons. First of all, writing gives the mind a disciplined means of expression. It allows one to record events and experiences so that they can be easily recalled, and relived in the future. It is a way to analyze and understand experiences, a self-communication that brings order to them.”

• Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Play of Words”, page 131. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.

• See Also:
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes
  • Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi_quotes/Writing

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Keywords: Waste_quotes Writng_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Reason_quotes Mind_quotes Discipline_quotes Expression_quotes Allow_quotes Record_quotes Event_quotes Experience_quotes Recall_quotes Relive_quotes Future_quotes Analyze_quotes Understand_quotes Self_quotes Communication_quotes Bring_quotes Order_quotes

David_Deutsch

Gigantic Computation

“Think of all our knowledge-generating processes, our whole culture and civilization, and all the thought processes in the minds of every individual, and indeed the entire evolving biosphere as well, as being a gigantic computation. The whole thing is executing a self-motivated, self-generating computer program. More specifically it is, as I have mentioned, a virtual-reality program in the process of rendering, with ever-increasing accuracy, the whole of existence.”

• Source: David Deutsch (1997). The Fabric of Reality. ISBN 978-0713990614.

• See Also:
  • David_Deutsch_quotes
  • David_Deutsch_quotes/Gigantic_Computation

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Keywords: Knowledge_quotes Culture_quotes Civilization_quotes Thinking_quotes Process_quotes Mind_quotes Evolution_quotes Biosphere_quotes Computed_Reality_quotes Computation_quotes Virtual_Reality_quotes Program_quotes Rendering_quotes Accuracy_quotes Existence_quotes Increase_quotes Generate_quotes Whole_quotes Computer_quotes Gigantic_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Humble Programmers

"We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers."

• Source: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra in an article entitled The Humble Programmer. Written by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Published 1972 in Communications of the ACM, volume 15, number 10. DOI: 10.1145/355604.361591.

• See Also:
  • Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra_quotes
  • Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra_quotes/Humble_Programmers

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Keywords: Programming_quotes Appreciation_quotes Difficulty_quotes Modesty_quotes Humility_quotes Elegant_quotes Mind_quotes Limitation_quotes Programmer_quotes Approach_quotes Task_quotes Modest_quotes Language_quotes Respect_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Human_quotes

Arthur_Conan_Doyle

Life Strange

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”

• Source: Words of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the short story “A Case of Identity”. Published in 1891-09 in Strand Magazine. Online at https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/iden.pdf, retrieved 2024.

• See Also:
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Identity
  • Arthur_Conan_Doyle_quotes
  • Arthur_Conan_Doyle_quotes/Life_Strange

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Keywords: Life_quotes Infinite_quotes Strange_quotes Anything_quotes Mind_quotes Man_quotes Humanity_quotes Invent_quotes

Arthur_Eddington

Brain and Mind

“Take the living human brain endowed with mind and thought. Thought it is one of the indisputable facts of the world. I know that I think, with a certainty which I cannot attribute to any of my physical knowledge of the world. More hypothetically, but on fairly plausible evidence, I am convinced that you have minds which think. Here then is a world fact to be investigated. The physicist brings his tools and commences systematic exploration. All that he discovers is a collection of atoms and electrons and fields of force arranged in space and time, apparently similar to those found in inorganic objects. He may trace other physical characteristics, energy, temperature, entropy. None of these is identical with thought. He might set down thought as an illusion ⎯ some perverse interpretation of the interplay of the physical entities that he has found. Or if he sees the folly of calling the most undoubted element of our experience an illusion, he will have to face the tremendous question, How can this collection of ordinary atoms be a thinking machine?”

• Source: Eddington, A. (1932). The Nature of the Physical World (Cheap). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/Eddington.2008.pdf. Chapter VII. page 130.

• See Also:
  • Arthur_Eddington_quotes
  • Arthur_Eddington_quotes/Brain_and_Mind

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Keywords: Brain_quotes Mind_quotes Thinking_quotes Fact_quotes Indisputable_quotes World_quotes Knowledge_quotes Certainty_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Plausible_quotes Evidence_quotes Physics_quotes Tool_quotes Systematic_quotes Exploration_quotes Discovery_quotes Atom_quotes Electron_quotes Field_quotes Space_quotes Time_quotes Energy_quotes Physical_quotes Materialism_quotes Temperature_quotes Entropy_quotes Illusion_quotes Perversity_quotes Interpretation_quotes Interplay_quotes Folly_quotes Experience_quotes Question_quotes Human_quotes Think_quotes Find_quotes Entity_quotes Undoubted_quotes Element_quotes Machine_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Magnificent Applied Science

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day's work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations... It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”

• Source: Albert Einstein [Speaker];
  • 1950-02-16 [Speech/Date]; California Institute of Technology [Location]; CalTech students [Audience];
  • 1950-02-17 [Reporting/Article/Date]; “Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science” [Title]; Anonymous [Article/Author]; New York Times [Reporting/Newspaper]; 8 [Page];

• See Also:
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes/Magnificent_Applied_Science

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Keywords: Science_quotes Happiness_quotes War_quotes Wisdom_quotes Peace_quotes Work_quotes Slavery_quotes Automation_quotes Ethics_quotes Values_quotes Empathy_quotes Labor_quotes Distribution_quotes Mind_quotes Humanity_quotes Mathematics_quotes Engineering_quotes Magnificent_quotes Applied_quotes Save_quotes Life_quotes Simple_quotes Answer_quotes Learn_quotes Sensible_quotes Poison_quotes Mutilate_quotes Hurry_quotes Uncertain_quotes Freedom_quotes Spiritual_quotes Exhausting_quotes Men_quotes Machinery_quotes Monotonous_quotes Long_quotes Day_quotes Disgust_quotes Continual_quotes Tremble_quotes Poor_quotes Rations_quotes Understand_quotes Increase_quotes Blessing_quotes Man_quotes Fate_quotes Chief_quotes Interest_quotes Technical_quotes Endeavour_quotes Concern_quotes Problem_quotes Unsolved_quotes Organization_quotes Creation_quotes Curse_quotes Mankind_quotes Forget_quotes Diagram_quotes Equation_quotes

Information in Books

“[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”

• Source: In response to not knowing the speed of sound as included in the Edison Test: New York Times (18 May 1921); Einstein: His Life and Times (1947) Philipp Frank, p. 185; Einstein, A Life (1996) by Denis Brian, p. 129; "Einstein Due Today" (February 2005) edited by József Illy, Manuscript 25-32 of the Einstein Paper Project; all previous sources as per Einstein His Life and Universe (2007) by Walter Isaacson, p. 299 (The speed of sound in 340.29 meters/second)

• See Also:
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes/Information_in_Books

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Keywords: Information_quotes Book_quotes Mind_quotes College_quotes Education_quotes Thinking_quotes Fact_quotes Value_quotes Learn_quotes Training_quotes

Great Spirits

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”

• Source: Letter to Morris Raphael Cohen, professor emeritus of philosophy at the College of the City of New York, defending the appointment of Bertrand Russell to a teaching position (19 March 1940)."

• See Also:
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes
  • Albert_Einstein_quotes/Great_Spirits

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Keywords: Greatness_quotes Mediocrity_quotes Mind_quotes Opposition_quotes Comprehension_quotes Ignorance_quotes Prejudice_quotes Courage_quotes Honesty_quotes Spirit_quotes Incapable_quotes Understand_quotes Refuse_quotes Man_quotes Bow_quotes Blind_quotes Conventional_quotes Choice_quotes Opinion_quotes

Epictetus

Appearances

“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.”

• Source: The words of Epictetus in “The Discourses of Epictetus”, Book I, chapter 27, section 1, as recorded by his pupil Arrian circa 108 CE.

• See Also:
  • Epictetus_quotes
  • Epictetus_quotes/Appearances

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Keywords: Appear_quotes Mind_quotes Kind_quotes Thing_quotes Be_quotes Rightly_quotes Aim_quotes Case_quotes Wise_quotes Man_quotes Task_quotes

David_Epstein

Creative Constraints

“That's the thing about constraints that spur creativity: They shut down many possibilities, but stimulate more varied and novel exploration of those that remain... Given complete freedom, our very strong urge is to follow the ‘path of least resistance.’ Specifically, we do only what we have done before, or follow the first example that jumps to mind.”

• Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 58. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).

• See Also:
  • David_Epstein_quotes
  • David_Epstein_quotes/Creative_Constraints

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Keywords: Thing_quotes Constraint_quotes Spur_quotes Creativity_quotes Shut_quotes Down_quotes Many_quotes Possibility_quotes Stimulate_quotes Variety_quotes Novel_quotes Explore_quotes Remain_quotes Give_quotes Complete_quotes Freedom_quotes Strong_quotes Urge_quotes Follow_quotes Path_quotes Least_quotes Resistance_quotes Do_quotes What_quotes Before_quotes Follow_quotes First_quotes Example_quotes Jump_quotes Mind_quotes

Haiku

“Haiku, the three-line poem made by alternating lines of five, seven, and five syllables... in the seventeenth century, a student of Zen named Matsuo Bashō... made it into its own serious form, imbued with Zen principles. Not only were the words spare, but the ethos was as well... It prompted poets to pause and look mindfully at the world around them... This minuscule problem space is known around the world for its ability to turn anyone, from kindergartener to adult, into a probing wordsmith in an instant. Look around you; try it. The form's scarcity will immediately ignite an exploration of new linguistic possibilities in your mind.”

• Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 68. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).

• See Also:
  • David_Epstein_quotes
  • David_Epstein_quotes/Haiku

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Keywords: Haiku_quotes Poem_quotes Make_quotes Alternative_quotes Line_quotes Syllable_quotes Century_quotes Student_quotes Zen_quotes Serious_quotes Form_quotes Imbue_quotes Principle_quotes Spare_quotes Ethos_quotes Prompt_quotes Poet_quotes Pause_quotes Look_quotes Mindful_quotes World_quotes Around_quotes Minuscule_quotes Problem_quotes Space_quotes Know_quotes Ability_quotes Turn_quotes Anyone_quotes Kindergarten_quotes Adult_quotes Probe_quotes Wordsmith_quotes Instant_quotes Try_quotes Scarce_quotes Immediate_quotes Ignite_quotes Explore_quotes Linguistic_quotes Possibility_quotes Mind_quotes

Michael_Faraday

Assertion Duties

“A man who makes assertions, or draws conclusions, regarding any given case, ought to be competent to investigate it. He has no right to throw the onus on others, declaring it their duly to prove him right or wrong. His duty is to demonstrate the truth of that which he asserts, or to cease from asserting. The men he calls upon to consider and judge have enough to do with themselves, in the examination, correction, or verification of their own views. The world little knows how many of the thoughts and theories which have passed through the mind of a scientific investigator have been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse examination; that in the most successful instances not a tenth of the suggestions, the hopes, the wishes, the preliminary conclusions have been realized.”

• Source: Lecturer=Michael Faraday; Lecture/Title=“Observations on Mental Education: A Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Before H.R.H. Prince Albert”; Date=1854-05-06; Book/Title=“Lectures on Education”; Publication/Date=1855; Book/Title=“Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics”; Publication/Date=1859); Page=486.

• See Also:
  • Michael_Faraday_quotes
  • Michael_Faraday_quotes/Assertion_Duties

---

Keywords: Assertion_quotes Conclusion_quotes Investigation_quotes Rights_quotes Duty_quotes Proof_quotes Truth_quotes Examination_quotes Correction_quotes Verification_quotes Opinion_quotes World_quotes Thinking_quotes Theory_quotes Mind_quotes Science_quotes Self-Examination_quotes Criticism_quotes Success_quotes Suggestion_quotes Hope_quotes Wish_quotes Man_quotes Case_quotes Competent_quotes Throw_quotes Onus_quotes Right_quotes Wrong_quotes Demonstrate_quotes Men_quotes Consider_quotes Judge_quotes View_quotes Crush_quotes Silent_quotes Secret_quotes Preliminary_quotes Realize_quotes

Poem of Facts

“I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.”

• Source: Michael Faraday. Lecture notes of 1858, quoted in The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870) by Bence Jones, Vol. 2, p. 403

• See Also:
  • Michael_Faraday_quotes
  • Michael_Faraday_quotes/Poem_of_Facts

---

Keywords: Poetry_quotes Thinking_quotes Fact_quotes Mind_quotes

Henry_Ford

Excess Organization

“That which one has to fight hardest against in bringing together a large number of people to do work is excess organization and consequent red tape. To my mind there is no bent of mind more dangerous than that which is sometimes described as the ”genius for organization.” This usually results in the birth of a great big chart showing, after the fashion of a family tree, how authority ramifies.”

• Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter VI.

• See Also:
  • Henry_Ford_quotes
  • Henry_Ford_quotes/Excess_Organization

---

Keywords: Fight_quotes Hard_quotes People_quotes Work_quotes Excess_quotes Organization_quotes Red_Tape_quotes Mind_quotes Danger_quotes Genius_quotes Birth_quotes Chart_quotes Authority_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Bureaucracy_quotes Family_quotes Tree_quotes

Repetitive Labour

“Repetitive labour – the doing of one thing over and over again and always in the same way – is a terrifying prospect to a certain kind of mind. It is terrifying to me.”

• Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter VII.

• See Also:
  • Henry_Ford_quotes
  • Henry_Ford_quotes/Repetitive_Labour

---

Keywords: Repetition_quotes Labor_quotes Work_quotes Fear_quotes Mind_quotes Same_quotes Terrify_quotes Prospect_quotes Kind_quotes

Wages

“There is nothing to running a business by custom – to saying: 'I pay the going rate of wages.' The same man would not so easily say: 'I have nothing better or cheaper to sell than any one has.' No manufacturer in his right mind would contend that buying only the cheapest materials is the way to make certain of manufacturing the best article. Then why do we hear so much talk about the 'liquidation of labour' and the benefits that will flow to the country from cutting wages – which means only the cutting of buying power and the curtailing of the home market? What good is industry if it be so unskillfully managed as not to return a living to everyone concerned? No question is more important than that of wages – most of the people of the country live on wages. The scale of their living – the rate of their wages – determines the prosperity of the country.”

• Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter VIII.

• See Also:
  • Henry_Ford_quotes
  • Henry_Ford_quotes/Wages

---

Keywords: Business_quotes Pay_quotes Rate_quotes Wage_quotes Manufacture_quotes Sell_quotes Mind_quotes Buy_quotes Cheap_quotes Material_quotes Liquidation_quotes Labor_quotes Benefit_quotes Cut_quotes Power_quotes Market_quotes Industry_quotes People_quotes Prosperity_quotes Country_quotes Inequality_quotes Nothing_quotes Run_quotes Custom_quotes Say_quotes Man_quotes Easy_quotes Better_quotes Contend_quotes Best_quotes Article_quotes Hear_quotes Talk_quotes Curtail_quotes Home_quotes Management_quotes Living_quotes Question_quotes Important_quotes Scale_quotes Determine_quotes

Human Humanity

“It is a shock when the mind awakens to the fact that not all of humanity is human – that whole groups of people do not regard others with humane feelings.”

• Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter XVIII.

• See Also:
  • Henry_Ford_quotes
  • Henry_Ford_quotes/Human_Humanity

---

Keywords: Shock_quotes Mind_quotes Awake_quotes Fact_quotes Humanity_quotes People_quotes Regard_quotes Empathy_quotes Feel_quotes Humane_quotes

Charity

“Why should there by any necessity for almsgiving in a civilized community? It is not the charitable mind to which I object. Heaven forbid that we should ever grow cold toward a fellow creature in need. Human sympathy is too fine for the cool, calculating attitude to take its place. One can name very few great advances that did not have human sympathy behind them. It is in order to help people that every notable service is undertaken. The trouble is that we have been using this great, fine motive force for ends too small. If human sympathy prompts us to feed the hungry, why should it not give the larger desire – to make hunger in our midst impossible? If we have sympathy enough for people to help them out of their troubles, surely we ought to have sympathy enough to keep them out.”

• Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter XV.

• See Also:
  • Henry_Ford_quotes
  • Henry_Ford_quotes/Charity

---

Keywords: Alms_quotes Charity_quotes Civilization_quotes Community_quotes Society_quotes Poverty_quotes Empathy_quotes Need_quotes Sympathy_quotes Calculation_quotes Progress_quotes Help_quotes Service_quotes Action_quotes Trouble_quotes Motivation_quotes Force_quotes Small_quotes Large_quotes Hunger_quotes Desire_quotes Impossibility_quotes Prevent_quotes Mind_quotes Heaven_quotes Forbid_quotes Grow_quotes Cold_quotes Creature_quotes Human_quotes Cool_quotes Attitude_quotes Advance_quotes People_quotes Notable_quotes Undertake_quotes Feed_quotes

Galen

Seeks the Truth

“It would be better, I think, for the man who really seeks the truth not to ask what the poets say; rather, he should first learn the method of finding the scientific premises that I discussed in the second book; then he should train and exercise himself in this method; and when his training is sufficiently advanced, then, as he approaches each particular problem, he should enquire into the premise needed for proving it, which premise he should take from simple sense-perception, which from experience, whether drawn from life or from the arts, which from the truths clearly apprehended by the mind, in order to draw out from them the desired conclusion.”

• Source: Galen, On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato,: PHP III 8.35.1-11 translation: De Lacy, Phillip (1978- 1984) Galen, On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, Berlin. p. 233; cited in: Christopher Jon Elliott. "Galen, Rome and the Second Sophistic." p. 147-148.

• See Also:
  • Galen_quotes
  • Galen_quotes/SeeksTheTruth

---

Keywords: Better_quotes Thinking_quotes Truth_quotes Poetry_quotes Learning_quotes Methodology_quotes Science_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Training_quotes Exercise_quotes Problem_quotes Proof_quotes Premise_quotes Assumption_quotes Perception_quotes Sense_quotes Experience_quotes Life_quotes Art_quotes Comprehension_quotes Mind_quotes Conclusion_quotes Man_quotes Seek_quotes Ask_quotes Find_quotes

Gordon_Glegg

Realms of the Design Mind

“The mind of the designer has three realms of activity... the inventive, the artistic, and the logical or rational.”

• Source: Glegg, G. L. (1969). The Design of Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-511-79996-9. Chapter 2, page 18.

• See Also:
  • Gordon_Glegg_quotes
  • Gordon_Glegg_quotes/Realms_of_the_Design_Mind

---

Keywords: Mind_quotes Design_quotes Realm_quotes Activity_quotes Invention_quotes Art_quotes Logic_quotes Rational_quotes

Kurt_Gödel

Mind Machine

“Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human mind is more than a machine.”

• Source: The words of Kurt Gödel as reported in the book ‘Topoi : The Categorial Analysis of Logic’ (1979) by Robert Goldblatt, page 13.

• See Also:
  • Kurt_Gödel_quotes
  • Kurt_Gödel_quotes/Mind_Machine

---

Keywords: Mathematics_quotes Big_quotes Human_quotes Mind_quotes More_quotes Machine_quotes

Stephen_Hawking

Imaginary Reality

“One might think this means that imaginary numbers are just a mathematical game having nothing to do with the real world. From the viewpoint of positivist philosophy, however, one cannot determine what is real. All one can do is find which mathematical models describe the universe we live in. It turns out that a mathematical model involving imaginary time predicts not only effects we have already observed but also effects we have not been able to measure yet nevertheless believe in for other reasons. So, what is real and what is imaginary? Is the distinction just in our minds?”

• Source: Hawking, Stephen in the book “The Universe in a Nutshell”, p. 59 (2001).

• See Also:
  • Stephen_Hawking_quotes
  • Stephen_Hawking_quotes/Imaginary_Reality

---

Keywords: Thinking_quotes Meaning_quotes Imaginary_quotes Mathematics_quotes Game_quotes Reality_quotes World_quotes Viewpoint_quotes Positivist_quotes Philosophy_quotes Determine_quotes Real_quotes Find_quotes Model_quotes Describe_quotes Universe_quotes Live_quotes Involve_quotes Number_quotes Time_quotes Prediction_quotes Effect_quotes Observation_quotes Measurement_quotes Believe_quotes Reason_quotes Distinction_quotes Mind_quotes

Robert_Heinlein

Scientific Method

“There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.”.

• Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the short story “Life-Line” originally published in the 1939-08 edition of “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine, page 83. Character: Dr. Pinero. Retrieved 2024-05-05 from https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm.

• See Also:
  • Robert_Heinlein_quotes
  • Robert_Heinlein_quotes/Scientific_Method

---

Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes Way_quotes Form_quotes Opinion_quotes Scholastic_quotes Judge_quotes Experiment_quotes Blind_quotes Accept_quotes Authority_quotes Mind_quotes Proof_quotes Important_quotes Theory_quotes Convenience_quotes Description_quotes Junk_quotes Fit_quotes Academic_quotes Everything_quotes Fact_quotes Laid_quotes Down_quotes

Joseph_Heller

Mysterious Ways

“‘And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,’ Yossarian continued, hurtling on over her objection. ‘There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about — a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?’”

• Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 18 'The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice', page 207. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

• See Also:
  • Joseph_Heller_quotes
  • Joseph_Heller_quotes/Mysterious_Ways

---

Keywords: God_quotes Work_quotes Mysterious_quotes Play_quotes Forget_quotes Kind_quotes People_quotes Talk_quotes Country_quotes Bumpkin_quotes Clumsy_quotes Bungling_quotes Brainless_quotes Conceited_quotes Uncouth_quotes Hayseed_quotes Reverence_quotes Supreme_quotes Being_quotes Necessary_quotes Phenomena_quotes Phlegm_quotes Tooth_quotes Decay_quotes Divine_quotes System_quotes Creation_quotes World_quotes Warp_quotes Evil_quotes Scatological_quotes Mind_quotes Rob_quotes Old_quotes Power_quotes Control_quotes Bowel_quotes Movement_quotes Pain_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Change Mind

“One of the major difficulties is the difficulty of changing people's minds.”

• Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 25:45.

• See Also:
  • Grace_Hopper_quotes
  • Grace_Hopper_quotes/Change_Mind

---

Keywords: Major_quotes Difficulty_quotes Change_quotes People_quotes Mind_quotes

Aldous_Huxley

Protect Our Minds

“We protect our minds by an elaborate system of abstractions, ambiguities, metaphors and similes from the reality we do not wish to know too clearly; we lie to ourselves, in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes.”

• Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.

• See Also:
  • Aldous_Huxley_quotes
  • Aldous_Huxley_quotes/Protect_Our_Minds

---

Keywords: Protection_quotes Mind_quotes Elaborate_quotes System_quotes Abstraction_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Metaphor_quotes Simile_quotes Reality_quotes Wish_quotes Clear_quotes Lie_quotes Excuse_quotes Ignorance_quotes Alibi_quotes Stupidity_quotes Comprehension_quotes Possess_quotes Continue_quotes Conscience_quotes Commitment_quotes Tolerance_quotes Monster_quotes Crime_quotes

Science without Art

“The peoples of the West no longer share a literature and a system of ancient wisdom. All that they now have in common is science and information. Now, science is knowledge, not wisdom; deals with quantities, not with the qualities of which we are immediately aware. In so far as we are enjoying and suffering beings, its words seem to us mostly irrelevant and beside the point. Moreover, these words are arranged without art; therefore possess no magical power and are incapable of propping or moulding the mind of the reader.”

• Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.

• See Also:
  • Aldous_Huxley_quotes
  • Aldous_Huxley_quotes/Science_without_Art

---

Keywords: People_quotes West_quotes Sharing_quotes Literature_quotes System_quotes Ancient_quotes Wisdom_quotes Common_quotes Science_quotes Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Deal_quotes Quantity_quotes Quality_quotes Aware_quotes Enjoy_quotes Suffering_quotes Being_quotes Relevance_quotes Point_quotes Word_quotes Arrangement_quotes Art_quotes Possess_quotes Magic_quotes Power_quotes Capability_quotes Prop_quotes Mold_quotes Mind_quotes Reading_quotes

Brooks_Jackson and Kathleen_Hall_Jamieson

Fact Driven

“Humans are not by nature the fact-driven, rational beings we like to think we are. We get the facts wrong more often than we think we do. And we do so in predictable ways: we engage in wishful thinking. We embrace information that supports our beliefs and reject evidence that challenges them. Our minds tend to take shortcuts, which require some effort to avoid ... [and] more often than most of us would imagine, the human mind operates in ways that defy logic.”

• Source: Brooks Jackson, As co-author with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, in unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (2007), 69.

• See Also:
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes/Fact_Driven

---

Keywords: Humanity_quotes Nature_quotes Fact_quotes Reason_quotes Wrong_quotes Bias_quotes Prediction_quotes Thinking_quotes Wish_quotes Information_quotes Belief_quotes Rejection_quotes Evidence_quotes Challenge_quotes Mind_quotes Shortcut_quotes Effort_quotes Avoidance_quotes Imagination_quotes Logic_quotes Support_quotes

Psychological Experiments

“Psychological experiments have shown ... that humans tend to seek out even weak evidence to support their existing beliefs, and to ignore evidence that undercuts those beliefs. In the process, we apply stringent tests to evidence we don't want to hear, while letting slide uncritically into our minds any information that suits our needs.”

• Source: Brooks Jackson, As co-author with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, in unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (2007), 69-70.

• See Also:
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes/Psychological_Experiments

---

Keywords: Psychology_quotes Experiment_quotes Humanity_quotes Seek_quotes Weakness_quotes Evidence_quotes Support_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Belief_quotes Testing_quotes Hearing_quotes Critical_quotes Mind_quotes Information_quotes Suitability_quotes Need_quotes Exist_quotes Ignore_quotes Undercut_quotes Stringent_quotes

Psychology

“Psychology ... tells us that we rarely work through reasons and evidence in a systematic way; weighing information carefully and suspending the impulse to draw conclusions. Instead, much of the time we use mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that save us mental effort. These habits often work reasonably well, but they also can lead us to conclusions we might dismiss if we applied more thought.”

• Source: Brooks Jackson, As co-author with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, in unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (2007), 70.

• See Also:
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes
  • Jackson_and_Jamieson_quotes/Psychology

---

Keywords: Psychology_quotes Work_quotes Reason_quotes Evidence_quotes System_quotes Weighing_quotes Information_quotes Careful_quotes Suspend_quotes Impulse_quotes Conclusion_quotes Mind_quotes Thinking_quotes Shortcut_quotes Rule_quotes Thumb_quotes Effort_quotes Habit_quotes Dismiss_quotes

Bernardo_Kastrup

Cosmic Mind

“He [Jung] is extrapolating the natural basis for cognitive associations in the psyche to a universal basis for the organization of all events in nature. He seems to regard the whole universe as a supraordinate cosmic mind — a ‘greater and more comprehensive consciousness’ — operating on the principle of association by similarity, just as the human psyche does.”

• Source: From “Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The Archetypal Semantics of an Experiential Universe”. Written by Bernardo Kastrup. Published by IFF Books, Washington DC. Kindle Edition. Page 69-70. Chapter 4.

• See Also:
  • Bernardo_Kastrup_quotes
  • Bernardo_Kastrup_quotes/Cosmic_Mind

---

Keywords: Extrapolate_quotes Natural_quotes Basis_quotes Cognitive_quotes Association_quotes Psyche_quotes Universal_quotes Organization_quotes Event_quotes Universe_quotes Supraordinate_quotes Cosmic_quotes Mind_quotes Great_quotes Comprehensive_quotes Consciousness_quotes Operate_quotes Principle_quotes Similarity_quotes Human_quotes Jung(topic)_quotes

Laozi

Good Scientist

“A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is.”

• Source: Laozi in “Tao Te Ching”, Ch. 1, as translated by Thomas Cleary (2004).

• See Also:
  • Laozi_quotes
  • Laozi_quotes/Good_Scientist

---

Keywords: Good_quotes Scientist_quotes Free_quotes Concept_quotes Keep_quotes Mind_quotes Open_quotes

Pierre-Simon_Laplace

System of Nature

“The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence that at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective position, motions, and general affects of all these entities at any time in the past or future. Physical astronomy, the branch of knowledge that does the greatest honor to the human mind, gives us an idea, albeit imperfect, of what such an intelligence would be. The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time. Man owes that advantage to the power of the instrument he employs, and to the small number of relations that it embraces in its calculations. But ignorance of the different causes involved in the production of events, as well as their complexity, taken together with the imperfection of analysis, prevents our reaching the same certainty about the vast majority of phenomena. Thus there are things that are uncertain for us, things more or less probable, and we seek to compensate for the impossibility of knowing them by determining their different degrees of likelihood. So it was that we owe to the weakness of the human mind one of the most delicate and ingenious of mathematical theories, the science of chance or probability.”

• Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Recherches, 1º, sur l'Intégration des Équations Différentielles aux Différences Finies, et sur leur Usage dans la Théorie des Hasards' (1773, published 1776). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 8, 144-5, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 26.

• See Also:
  • Pierre-Simon_Laplace_quotes
  • Pierre-Simon_Laplace_quotes/System_of_Nature

---

Keywords: State_quotes Present_quotes System_quotes Nature_quotes Consequence_quotes Moment_quotes Precede_quotes Conceive_quotes Intelligence_quotes Instant_quotes Comprehension_quotes Relationship_quotes Universe_quotes Position_quotes Motion_quotes Causality_quotes Time_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes Astronomy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Humanity_quotes Mind_quotes Idea_quotes Imperfect_quotes Law_quotes Celestial_quotes Body_quotes Mass_quotes Distance_quotes Analysis_quotes Determine_quotes Century_quotes Mathematics_quotes Velocity_quotes Observation_quotes Advantage_quotes Power_quotes Instrument_quotes Calculation_quotes Ignorance_quotes Cause_quotes Production_quotes Event_quotes Complexity_quotes Certainty_quotes Majority_quotes Phenomena_quotes Probability_quotes Impossibility_quotes Likelihood_quotes Weakness_quotes Theory_quotes Chance_quotes

Pim_van_Lommel

Science

“For me, the definition of science is asking a question with an open mind.”

• Source: Words from Pim van Lommel in a video interview. From the YouTube video “Consciousness beyond death, with Dr. Pim van Lommel” on the Essentia Foundation channel. Posted 2023-07-23. Online at https://youtu.be/NVsBFOB7H44. Offset 46:05.

• See Also:
  • Pim_van_Lommel_quotes
  • Pim_van_Lommel_quotes/Science

---

Keywords: Definition_quotes Science_quotes Ask_quotes Open_quotes Mind_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes

Karl_Marx

Product of Mental Labor is Science

“The product of mental labor — science — always stands far below its value, because the labor-time necessary to reproduce it has no relation at all to the labor-time required for its original production.”

• Source: Addenda, "Relative and Absolute Surplus Value" in Economic Manuscripts (1861-63)

• See Also:
  • Karl_Marx_quotes
  • Karl_Marx_quotes/Product_of_Mental_Labor_is_Science

---

Keywords: Science_quotes Labor_quotes Mind_quotes Thinking_quotes Value_quotes Time_quotes Effort_quotes Production_quotes Product_quotes Mental_quotes Below_quotes Reproduce_quotes Relation_quotes Original_quotes

Parmenides

Look Afar

“Look steadfastly with thy mind at things though afar as if they were at hand.”

• Source: From the poem known as ‘On Nature' by Parmenides, originally written circa 430 BCE. Found in the book ‘Early Greek Philosophy' 3rd edition by John Burnet in section ‘Parmenides: On Nature', published in 1920 by A&C Black, London, England. Retrieved 2024-03-19 from https://platonic-philosophy.org/files/Parmenides%20-%20Poem.pdf

• See Also:
  • Parmenides_quotes
  • Parmenides_quotes/Look_Afar

---

Keywords: Look_quotes Steadfast_quotes Mind_quotes Thing_quotes Afar_quotes Hand_quotes

Louis_Pasteur

Preparation for Observation

“In the fields of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared.”

• Source: Inaugural lecture as professor and dean of the faculty of science, University of Lille, Douai, France, December 7, 1854

• See Also:
  • Louis_Pasteur_quotes
  • Louis_Pasteur_quotes/Preparation_for_Observation

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Keywords: Field_quotes Observation_quotes Chance_quotes Favor_quotes Mind_quotes Preparation_quotes

Roger_Penrose

Mind

“My point of view entails that it is our present lack of understanding of the fundamental laws of physics that prevents us from coming to grips with the concept of ‘mind’ in physical or logical terms.”

• Source: Written by Roger Penrose in the book “The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics” published in 1989 by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Kindle Edition; Page 4. ISBN: 978-0-19-286198-6.

• See Also:
  • Roger_Penrose_quotes
  • Roger_Penrose_quotes/Mind

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Keywords: Lack_quotes Understanding_quotes Fundamental_quotes Law_quotes Physics_quotes Prevent_quotes Come_quotes Grip_quotes Concept_quotes Mind_quotes Physical_quotes Logical_quotes Term_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Complex Information in the Mind

“One can only display complex information in the mind. Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely.”

• Source: Perlis, A. J. (1982). Special Feature: Epigrams on programming. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 17(9), 7–13. http://doi.org/10.1145/947955.1083808

• See Also:
  • Alan_Perlis_quotes
  • Alan_Perlis_quotes/Complex_Information_in_the_Mind

---

Keywords: Complexity_quotes Display_quotes Information_quotes Mind_quotes Movement_quotes Flow_quotes Alteration_quotes View_quotes Importance_quotes Static_quotes Picture_quotes Beauty_quotes Lovely_quotes See_quotes

Steven_Pinker

Neurons to Consciousness

“None of us has a brain that can actually put us in touch with reality unaided with truth. I've just shown you a bunch of gadgetry that responds to things that are essential to our survival, things that prevent us from falling off cliffs and bumping into trees. But they don't actually correspond to any clear description of the world as it is. So we have, for example, circuitry that responds to the edges rather than the physical distribution of light, because edges are important, that's where objects leave off and their backgrounds begin. Moreover, they can be fooled, as I did with each one of you. That since our neural circuitry does consist of a mechanism, not a pipeline to the truth or a window onto objective reality. That is naïve realism we know is false because there are illusions. You can't just trust your senses. That means we need some way of augmenting the faculties that nature gave us to make our beliefs as accurate as possible. Which of course is why the early modern philosophers made such a big deal of visual illusions. They said you can't just open your eyes and see the world as it is. Look at all these illusions. So what we do, what gives some of us confidence that our beliefs are objectively true is that they are part of an institutional infrastructure of testing and criticism and logic and determining which hypotheses withstand criticism and attempts at refutation. Devising exotic arrangements of reality to reflect the way reality is put together, namely experiments. Thanks to this huge network of minds, each one of them making up for deficits of all the others, we like to think that we have a collective grasp on truth that none of us individually can have. But of course, it's always fallible. The religious beliefs I think were actually pretty reasonable hypotheses in earlier states of our collective knowledge. Even Richard Dawkins said that before Darwin he probably would have been a creationist because the cosmic engineer was the only available explanation for the obvious adaptive complexity of living things. I would add that prior to the advent of modern neuroscience I probably would have believed in souls because there was no better explanation for phenomena such as that people respond intelligently to their environments. When you dream some part of you is up and about the world while your body is in bed the whole time. That seems like there must be some part of you that can leave your body. When a person suddenly dies some kind of animating force no longer seems to be animating the body that was there just a few minutes ago. So the soul hypothesis is not a stupid or irrational belief, nor is creationism if it's the best that you have. Now, of course, we can do better. But doing better in part depends not just on this cumulative weight of evidence and argument. But because few of us can actually reconstruct the scientific observations that justify the theory of natural selection or the theory of neural networks, all of us, at least a little bit, take it on faith in the following sense; that there is a community that you trust enough because when they have been challenged to defend their beliefs they can connect them to reality. They have shown that it isn't magic. That they have given reason to trust them because they've convinced you that they're the mores of their culture, of their scientific culture, designed so that they will find true things and weed out false things. If you don't have a degree of solidarity or trust, if you think that scientists are all in cahoots with big corporations or are trying to tear down all faith and values and meaning and you simply refuse to follow through the very long chain of deduction that connects the claims to the experiments, then you'll naturally reject it just because it's not your tribe. For you and me scientists are our tribe and we're apt to give them some credibility, indeed some credulousness, knowing that if ever challenged it would be repaid. But unless you trace that through it can be all too easy to reject the conclusions of science, and indeed a number of studies have shown that contrary to the common belief that people believe in falsehoods, such as that vaccines cause autism or that humans were created five thousand years ago or that the burning of fossil fuels has no effect on global temperatures, it turns out that people with those beliefs that we have every reason to believe are false are no more scientifically naïve on average than people that have beliefs that are scientifically justified. You give a test on evolution to a bunch of people who believe in evolution, give it to a bunch of creationists, there's not much difference in how well they score. In fact, often they are equal. Likewise, the typical grasp of climate science among someone who signs on to the scientific consensus is not much better than the adamant deniers. That kind of dashes the hope that simply by increasing the quality of science education you will lead people to more accurate beliefs. There, in addition, has to be a dissociation of who you think are the good guys and who are the bad guys from who has the best claims to truth. That's what it depends on.”

• Source: From the Q&A portion of the lecture From Neurons to Consciousness given by Steven Picker at the New College of the Humanities, 2017. Video available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrVBkxLcqrw&t=4057s (posted 20170309).

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Neurons_to_Consciousness

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Keywords: Accuracy_quotes Adament_quotes Adaptability_quotes Addition_quotes Advent_quotes Aid_quotes Animate_quotes Argue_quotes Arrangement_quotes Attempt_quotes Augment_quotes Autism_quotes Availability_quotes Background_quotes Bad_quotes Bed_quotes Belief_quotes Best_quotes Big_quotes Body_quotes Brain_quotes Bump_quotes Bunch_quotes Burn_quotes Cahoot_quotes Chain_quotes Challenge_quotes Circuit_quotes Claim_quotes Clear_quotes Cliff_quotes Climate_quotes Collective_quotes Complexity_quotes Common_quotes Community_quotes Conclusion_quotes Confidence_quotes Connection_quotes Consensus_quotes Consist_quotes Contrary_quotes Convince_quotes Cooperation_quotes Corporation_quotes Correspondence_quotes Cosmic_quotes Creationism_quotes Credibility_quotes Criticism_quotes Culture_quotes Cumulative_quotes Dash_quotes Deal_quotes Death_quotes Deception_quotes Deduction_quotes Defence_quotes Deficit_quotes Degree_quotes Deny_quotes Dependence_quotes Description_quotes Design_quotes Determine_quotes Devise_quotes Differences_quotes Dissociation_quotes Distribution_quotes Dreaming_quotes Early_quotes Easy_quotes Edge_quotes Education_quotes Effect_quotes Engineer_quotes Environment_quotes Essential_quotes Evidence_quotes Evolution_quotes Exotic_quotes Experiment_quotes Explanation_quotes Eye_quotes Faculty_quotes Faith_quotes Fall_quotes Fallible_quotes False_quotes Few_quotes Find_quotes Follow_quotes Fool_quotes Force_quotes Fossil_quotes Fuel_quotes Gadget_quotes Global_quotes Good_quotes Grasp_quotes Guy_quotes Huge_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Illusion_quotes Importance_quotes Increasing_quotes Individual_quotes Infrastructure_quotes Institution_quotes Intelligence_quotes Irrational_quotes Justification_quotes Knowledge_quotes Leave_quotes Life_quotes Light_quotes Logic_quotes Long_quotes Magic_quotes Meaning_quotes Mechanism_quotes Mind_quotes Modern_quotes Moral_quotes Naïve_quotes Nature_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Network_quotes Neural_quotes Neuroscience_quotes Object_quotes Objectivity_quotes Observation_quotes Obvious_quotes Part_quotes People_quotes Perception_quotes Phenomena_quotes Philosophy_quotes Physical_quotes Pipeline_quotes Possibility_quotes Prehistoric_quotes Prevent_quotes Reality_quotes Reason_quotes Reconstruct_quotes Reflection_quotes Refuse_quotes Refutation_quotes Rejection_quotes Religion_quotes Repay_quotes Respond_quotes Science_quotes Scientist_quotes Score_quotes Seem_quotes Selection_quotes Sense_quotes Show_quotes Sight_quotes Solidarity_quotes Soul_quotes State_quotes Study_quotes Stupidity_quotes Survival_quotes Tear_quotes Temperature_quotes Testing_quotes Theory_quotes Thinking_quotes Time_quotes Touch_quotes Trace_quotes Tree_quotes Tribal_quotes Trust_quotes Truth_quotes Try_quotes Typical_quotes Unaided_quotes Vaccine_quotes Value_quotes Visual_quotes Weed_quotes Weight_quotes Whole_quotes Window_quotes Withstand_quotes World_quotes

Computational Mind

“The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmaneuvering objects, animals, plants, and other people.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Computational_Mind

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Keywords: Mind_quotes System_quotes Computation_quotes Organ_quotes Design_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Solution_quotes Kind_quotes Problem_quotes Ancestor_quotes Forage_qoutes Way_quotes Life_quotes Understanding_quotes Maneuver_quotes Object_quotes Evolution_quotes Animal_quotes Plant_quotes People_quotes Prehistoric_quotes

Mind and Brain

“The mind is what the brain does.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Mind_and_Brain

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Brain_quotes Do_quotes

Modular Mind

“The mind is organized into modules or mental organs, each with a specialized design that makes it an expert in one arena of interaction with the world.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Modular_Mind

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Organize_quotes Module_quotes Mental_quotes Organ_quotes Specialization_quotes Design_quotes Expert_quotes Area_quotes Interaction_quotes World_quotes

Thinking is Computation

“Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Thinking_is_Computation

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Keywords: Thinking_quotes Computation_quotes Claim_quotes Meaning_quotes Computer_quotes Good_quotes Metaphor_quotes Mind_quotes

Computational Theory of Mind

“The computational theory of mind is not the same thing as the despised ‘computer metaphor.’ As many critics have pointed out, computers are serial, doing one thing at a time; brains are parallel, doing millions of things at once. Computers are fast; brains are slow. Computer parts are reliable; brain parts are noisy. Computers have a limited number of connections; brains have trillions. Computers are assembled according to a blueprint; brains must assemble themselves.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Computational_Theory_of_Mind

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Keywords: Computation_quotes Theory_quotes Mind_quotes Despise_quotes Computer_quotes Metaphor_quotes Criticism_quotes Point_quotes Serial_quotes Time_quotes Brain_quotes Parallel_quotes Fast_quotes Slow_quotes Reliability_quotes Part_quotes Noise_quotes Limitation_quotes Number_quotes Connection_quotes Assembly_quotes According_quotes Blueprint_quotes Million_quotes Trillion_quotes

Blind Programmer

“Richard Dawkins called natural selection; the Blind Watchmaker; in the case of the mind, we can call it the Blind Programmer.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Blind_Programmer

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Keywords: Natural_Selection_quotes Selection_quotes Blind_quotes Watchmaker_quotes Case_quotes Mind_quotes Programmer_quotes Dawkins(topic)_quotes Natural_quotes Call_quotes

Outside Psychology

“Psychologists have to look outside psychology if they want to explain what the parts of the mind are for.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Outside_Psychology

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Keywords: Psychology_quotes Look_quotes Outside_quotes Explanation_quotes Part_quotes Mind_quotes

Mind and Soul

“The traditional explanation of intelligence is that human flesh is suffused with a non-material entity, the soul, usually envisioned as some kind of ghost or spirit. But the theory faces an insurmountable problem: How does the spook interact with solid matter? How does an ethereal nothing respond to flashes, pokes, and beeps and get arms and legs to move? Another problem is the overwhelming evidence that the mind is the activity of the brain.”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 2 The search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Mind_and_Soul

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Keywords: Tradition_quotes Explanation_quotes Intelligence_quotes Human_quotes Flesh_quotes Suffuse_quotes Non-Material_quotes Material_quotes Entity_quotes Envision_quotes Kind_quotes Ghost_quotes Spirit_quotes Theory_quotes Insurmountable_quotes Problem_quotes Spook_quotes Interaction_quotes Solid_quotes Matter_quotes Ethereal_quotes Nothing_quotes Respond_quotes Flash_quotes Poke_quotes Beep_quotes Arm_quotes Leg_quotes Movement_quotes Overwhelm_quotes Evidence_quotes Mind_quotes Activity_quotes Brain_quotes Soul_quotes

Computational Mind Probabilistic

“The computational theory thus embraces an alternative kind of computer with many elements that are active to a degree corresponding to the probability that some statement is true or false, and in which the activity levels change smoothly to register new and roughly accurate probabilities. (As we shall see, that may be the way the brain works.) The key idea is that the answer to the question 'What makes a system smart?' is not the kind of stuff it is made of or the kind of energy flowing through it, but what the parts of the machine stand for and how the patterns of changes inside it are designed to mirror truth-preserving relationships (including probabilistic and fuzzy truths).”

• Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 2 Section: The search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes
  • Steven_Pinker_quotes/Computational_Mind_Probabilistic

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Keywords: Computation_quotes Theory_quotes Embrace_quotes Alternative_quotes Kind_quotes Computer_quotes Element_quotes Activity_quotes Degree_quotes Correspondence_quotes Probability_quotes Statement_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Level_quotes Change_quotes Smooth_quotes Register_quotes Rough_quotes Accuracy_quotes Sight_quotes Way_quotes Brain_quotes Work_quotes Key_quotes Idea_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes System_quotes Smart_quotes Stuff_quotes Energy_quotes Flow_quotes Part_quotes Machine_quotes Stand_quotes Pattern_quotes Inside_quotes Design_quotes Mirror_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Truth_quotes Preservation_quotes Mind_quotes

Eleanor_Roosevelt

Great Minds

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

• Source: Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1987-10-28 issue of 'The Hutchinson News', Quotable, Hutchinson, Kansas. (NewsBank Access World News).

• See Also:
  • Eleanor_Roosevelt_quotes
  • Eleanor_Roosevelt_quotes/Great_Minds

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Keywords: Great_quotes Mind_quotes Discussion_quotes Idea_quotes Average_quotes Event_quotes Small_quotes People_quotes

Theodore_Roosevelt

Educate a Menace

“To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

• Source: This statement is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but no known source can be found to verify the attribution. See https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Quotes?page=171.

• See Also:
  • Theodore_Roosevelt_quotes
  • Theodore_Roosevelt_quotes/Educate_a_Menace

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Keywords: Educate_quotes Person_quotes Mind_quotes Moral_quotes Menace_quotes Society_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Changing Opinion

“In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”

• Source: Carl Sagan, Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987

• See Also:
  • Carl_Sagan_quotes
  • Carl_Sagan_quotes/Changing_Opinion

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Keywords: Science_quotes Scientist_quotes Often_quotes Happen_quotes Speak_quotes Good_quotes Argue_quotes Position_quotes Mistake_quotes Bias_quotes Change_quotes Mind_quotes Hearing_quotes Old_quotes View_quotes Do_quotes Humanity_quotes Pain_quotes Day_quotes Recall_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes

Faith and Evidence

“What is faith? It is belief in the absence of evidence. Now, I don't propose to tell anybody what to believe, but for me believing when there is no compelling evidence is a mistake. The idea is to withhold belief until there is compelling evidence. And if the universe does not comply with our predispositions, okay, then we have the wrenching obligation to accommodate to the way the universe is. So who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us? Or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved in the writing of this book?”

• Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:03:10 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.

• See Also:
  • Carl_Sagan_quotes
  • Carl_Sagan_quotes/Faith_and_Evidence

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Keywords: Faith_quotes Belief_quotes Absence_quotes Evidence_quotes Proposal_quotes Tell_quotes Compel_quotes Mistake_quotes Idea_quotes Withhold_quotes Universe_quotes Compliance_quotes Predisposition_quotes Bias_quotes Wrench_quotes Obligation_quotes Accommodate_quotes Way_quotes Humility_quotes Scientist_quotes Look_quotes Open_quotes Mind_quotes Acceptance_quotes Teaching_quotes Book_quotes Consideration_quotes Literal_quotes Truth_quotes Fallibility_quotes Writing_quotes

George_Sarton

Science an Outgrowth of Life

“Abstract as it is, science is but an outgrowth of life. That is what the teacher must continually keep in mind. ... Let him explain ... science is not a dead system — the excretion of a monstrous pedantism — but really one of the most vigorous and exuberant phases of human life.”

• Source: George (Alfred Léon) Sarton, In 'The Teaching of the History of Science', The Scientific Monthly (Sep 1918), 195-196.

• See Also:
  • George_Sarton_quotes
  • George_Sarton_quotes/Science_an_Outgrowth_of_Life

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Keywords: Abstraction_quotes Science_quotes Life_quotes Teaching_quotes Mind_quotes Explanation_quotes Dead_quotes System_quotes Excretion_quotes Outgrowth_quotes Monster_quotes Pedantism_quotes Vigor_quotes Exuberant_quotes Humanity_quotes

Michael_Alan_Singer

Mind Voice

“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it.”

• Source: From the book “The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself”, by Michael Alan Singer, published 2007 by New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 978-1572245372. Chapter 1.

• See Also:
  • Michael_Alan_Singer_quotes
  • Michael_Alan_Singer_quotes/Mind_Voice

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Keywords: Nothing_quotes Important_quotes True_quotes Grow_quotes Realize_quotes Voice_quotes Mind_quotes Hear_quotes Observer_quotes

Baruch_Spinoza

Free Will and Hidden Causes

“Herefrom it follows, first, that men think themselves free inasmuch as they are conscious of their volitions and desires, and never even dream, in their ignorance, of the causes which have disposed them so to wish and desire. Secondly, that men do all things for an end, namely, for that which is useful to them, and which they seek.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Also entitled Ethica. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza). Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part I, Appendix.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Free_Will_Hidden_Causes

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Keywords: Free_Will_quotes Causality_quotes Follow_quotes Men_quotes Think_quotes Free_quotes Conscious_quotes Volition_quotes Desire_quotes Dream_quotes Ignorance_quotes Dispose_quotes Wish_quotes Do_quotes End_quotes Useful_quotes Seek_quotes Hidden_quotes

Good and Evil

“Experience day by day protested and showed by infinite examples, that good and evil fortunes fall to the lot of pious and impious alike; still they would not abandon their inveterate prejudice, for it was more easy for them to class such contradictions among other unknown things of whose use they were ignorant, and thus to retain their actual and innate condition of ignorance, than to destroy the whole fabric of their reasoning and start afresh. They therefore laid down as an axiom, that God's judgments far transcend human understanding. Such a doctrine might well have sufficed to conceal the truth from the human race for all eternity, if mathematics had not furnished another standard of verity in considering solely the essence and properties of figures without regard to their final causes.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Also entitled Ethica. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part I, Appendix.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Good_and_Evil

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Keywords: Ethics_quotes Deity_quotes Religion_quotes Prejudice_quotes Ignorance_quotes Reason_quotes Epistemology_quotes Mathematics_quotes Justice_quotes Causality_quotes Experience_quotes Day_quotes Protest_quotes Show_quotes Infinite_quotes Good_quotes Evil_quotes Fortune_quotes Fall_quotes Lot_quotes Pious_quotes Impious_quotes Abandon_quotes Inveterate_quotes Easy_quotes Contradiction_quotes Unknown_quotes Retain_quotes Actual_quotes Innate_quotes Condition_quotes Destroy_quotes Fabric_quotes Start_quotes Afresh_quotes Laid_quotes Axiom_quotes God_quotes Judgment_quotes Transcend_quotes Human_quotes Understand_quotes Doctrine_quotes Suffice_quotes Conceal_quotes Truth_quotes Race_quotes Eternity_quotes Furnish_quotes Standard_quotes Verity_quotes Consider_quotes Essence_quotes Property_quotes Figure_quotes Regard_quotes Final_quotes

Free Will Not Absolute

“In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza). Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part II, Prop. XLVIII note.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Free_Will_Not_Absolute

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Keywords: Free_Will_quotes Mind_quotes Causality_quotes Absolute_quotes Determine_quotes Wish_quotes Another_quotes Last_quotes Infinity_quotes

Mind Pleasure

“When the mind regards itself and its own power of activity, it feels pleasure: and that pleasure is greater in proportion to the distinctness wherewith it conceives itself and its own power of activity.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza). Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part III, Prop. LIII.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Mind_Pleasure

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Pleasure_quotes Power_quotes Activity_quotes Regard_quotes Proportion_quotes Distinct_quotes Conceive_quotes

Weak Mind Pain

“When the mind contemplates its own weakness, it feels pain thereat.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza). Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part III, Prop. LV.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Weak_Mind_Pain

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Weakness_quotes Pain_quotes Contemplate_quotes Feel_quotes

Free Will Open Eye Dream

“Therefore, those who believe, that they speak or keep silence or act in any way from the free decision of their mind, do but dream with their eyes open.”

• Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza). Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part III, Prop. II note.

• See Also:
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes
  • Baruch_Spinoza_quotes/Free_Will_Open_Eye_Dream

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Keywords: Free_Will_quotes Dreaming_quotes Belief_quotes Speak_quotes Keep_quotes Silence_quotes Act_quotes Way_quotes Free_quotes Decision_quotes Mind_quotes Eye_quotes Open_quotes

John_Steinbeck

Great Difficulty with Good Hypothesis

“There is one great difficulty with a good hypothesis. When it is completed and rounded, the corners smooth and the content cohesive and coherent, it is likely to become a thing in itself, a work of art. It is then like a finished sonnet or a painting completed. One hates to disturb it. Even if subsequent information should shoot a hole in it, one hates to tear it down because it once was beautiful and whole. One of our leading scientists, having reasoned a reef in the Pacific, was unable for a long time to reconcile the lack of a reef, indicated by soundings, with the reef his mind told him was there.”

• Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 179-80.

• See Also:
  • John_Steinbeck_quotes
  • John_Steinbeck_quotes/Great_Difficulty_with_Good_Hypothesis

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Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Good_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Completion_quotes Round_quotes Corner_quotes Smooth_quotes Content_quotes Cohesion_quotes Coherence_quotes Work_quotes Art_quotes Finishing_quotes Sonnet_quotes Painting_quotes Hate_quotes Disturb_quotes Subsequent_quotes Information_quotes Shoot_quotes Hole_quotes Tear_quotes Down_quotes Beauty_quotes Whole_quotes Lead_quotes Scientist_quotes Reason_quotes Reef_quotes Pacific_quotes Unable_quotes Long_quotes Time_quotes Reconciliation_quotes Lack_quotes Indication_quotes Sound_quotes Mind_quotes Tell_quotes There_quotes

T_H_White

Learning Cure for Sadness

“‘The best thing for being sad,’ replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, ‘is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn — pure science, the only purity there is. You can learn astronomy in a lifetime, natural history in three, literature in six. And then, after you have exhausted a milliard lifetimes in biology and medicine and theocriticism and geography and history and economics — why, you can start to make a cartwheel out of the appropriate wood, or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that you can start again on mathematics, until it is time to learn to plough.’”

• Source: White, T. H. (2011). The Once and Future King | 1939. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 9781101657546.

• See Also:
  • T_H_White_quotes
  • T_H_White_quotes/Learning_Cure_for_Sadness

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Keywords: Best_quotes Sad_quotes Begin_quotes Puff_quotes Blow_quotes Learning_quotes Failure_quotes Grow_quotes Old_quotes Tremble_quotes Anatomy_quotes Lie_quotes Awake_quotes Night_quotes Listening_quotes Disorder_quotes Vein_quotes Miss_quotes Love_quotes See_quotes World_quotes Devastate_quotes Evil_quotes Honor_quotes Trample_quotes Sewer_quotes Base_quotes Mind_quotes Why_quotes Wag_quotes Exhaust_quotes Alienate_quotes Torture_quotes Fear_quotes Distrust_quotes Dreaming_quotes Regret_quotes Look_quotes Pure_quotes Science_quotes Astronomy_quotes Lifetime_quotes Natural_quotes History_quotes Literature_quotes Biology_quotes Medicine_quotes Theocriticism_quotes Geography_quotes Economics_quotes Start_quotes Cartwheel_quotes Appropriate_quotes Wood_quotes Beat_quotes Adversary_quotes Fencing_quotes Mathematics_quotes Time_quotes Plow_quotes

Alfred_Wegener

Continental Drift

“The first concept of continental drift first came to me as far back as 1910, when considering the map of the world, under the direct impression produced by the congruence of the coast lines on either side of the Atlantic. At first I did not pay attention to the ideas because I regarded it as improbable. In the fall of 1911, I came quite accidentally upon a synoptic report in which I learned for the first time of palaeontological evidence for a former land bridge between Brazil and Africa. As a result I undertook a cursory examination of relevant research in the fields of geology and palaeontology, and this provided immediately such weighty corroboration that a conviction of the fundamental soundness of the idea took root in my mind.”

• Source: Alfred L. Wegener, In The Origins of Continents and Oceans (4th ed. 1929), trans. John Biram (1966), 1.

• See Also:
  • Alfred_Wegener_quotes
  • Alfred_Wegener_quotes/Continental_Drift

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Keywords: Conception_quotes Continental_quotes Drift_quotes Map_quotes World_quotes Impress_quotes Produce_quotes Congruity_quotes Coast_quotes Line_quotes Side_quotes Atlantic_quotes Attention_quotes Idea_quotes Regard_quotes Improbable_quotes Fall_quotes Accident_quotes Synoptic_quotes Report_quotes Learning_quotes First_quotes Palaeontology_quotes Evidence_quotes Former_quotes Land_quotes Bridge_quotes Brazil_quotes Africa_quotes Result_quotes Examination_quotes Relevance_quotes Research_quotes Field_quotes Geology_quotes Provide_quotes Immediate_quotes Weight_quotes Corroborate_quotes Conviction_quotes Fundamental_quotes Sound_quotes Root_quotes Mind_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Same Idea Doubtful

“It's doubtful that any ‘idea’ is the same in any two of its adherents' minds, but here, as with books and lakes, we can usefully pretend they're all the same.”

• Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-06-03). Passive Regulation: General Systems Design Principles (General Systems Thinking) (Kindle Locations 481-483). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.

• See Also:
  • Gerald_Weinberg_quotes
  • Gerald_Weinberg_quotes/Same_Idea_Doubtful

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Keywords: Doubt_quotes Idea_quotes Mind_quotes Book_quotes Lake_quotes Pretending_quotes Same_quotes Adherent_quotes Useful_quotes

Measuring Performance

“One consequence of the size of a large project is that performance becomes more difficult to measure. Part of this difficulty stems from the scale of things, which makes it impossible for a single mind to be making the judgment of all the parts.”

• Source: Chapter 6. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.

• See Also:
  • Gerald_Weinberg_quotes
  • Gerald_Weinberg_quotes/Measuring_Performance

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Keywords: Consequence_quotes Size_quotes Large_quotes Project_quotes Performance_quotes Measurement_quotes Difficulty_quotes Scale_quotes Impossibility_quotes Mind_quotes Judgment_quotes Part_quotes Complexity_quotes Single_quotes Stem_quotes

Alfred_North_Whitehead

Rigid Dogma Destroys Truth

“It is rigid dogma that destroys truth; and, please notice, my emphasis is not on the dogma, but on the rigidity. When men say of any question, ‘This is all there is to be known or said of the subject; investigation ends here,' that is death. It may be that the mischief comes not from the thinker but for the use made of his thinking by late-comers. Aristotle, for example, gave us our scientific technique ... yet his logical propositions, his instruction in sound reasoning which was bequeathed to Europe, are valid only within the limited framework of formal logic, and, as used in Europe, they stultified the minds of whole generations of medieval Schoolmen. Aristotle invented science, but destroyed philosophy.”

• Source: Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, as recorded by Lucien Price (1954, 2001), 165.

• See Also:
  • Alfred North Whitehead quotes
  • Alfred_North_Whitehead_quotes/Rigid_Dogma_Destroys_Truth

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Keywords: Rigidity_quotes Dogma_quotes Destroy_quotes Truth_quotes Emphasis_quotes Men_quotes Say_quotes Question_quotes Knowledge_quotes Subject_quotes Investigation_quotes Death_quotes Mischief_quotes Come_quotes Thinker_quotes Late_quotes Aristotle(topic)_quotes Example_quotes Logic_quotes Science_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Technique_quotes Proposition_quotes Instruction_quotes Sound_quotes Reason_quotes Bequeath_quotes Europe(topic)_quotes Validity_quotes Limitation_quotes Framework_quotes Formal_quotes Stultify_quotes Mind_quotes Generation_quotes Medieval_quotes Schoolmen_quotes Philosophy_quotes Method_quotes

Steven_Wright

Coffee

“My mind goes crazy on coffee... I drink coffee and then I just, I'm like a receptionist for my mind. I just write down things that come into my head.”

• Source: Weight, Steven (2024). A video clip entitled "I'm Like A Receptionist For My Mind - Steven Wright, After A Few Cups Of Coffee". Posted on [youtube.com] channel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". Posting date circa 2024-01. At video time 5:00.

• See Also:
  • Steven_Wright_quotes
  • Steven_Wright_quotes/Coffee

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Keywords: Mind_quotes Go_quotes Crazy_quotes Coffee_quotes Drink_quotes Receptionist_quotes Writing_quotes Come_quotes Head_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Know-How

“The agenda for scientific management was to increase productivity by streamlining and rationalizing factory operation from cost accounting and supervision to the dullest job on the shop floor. Efficiency was the mania, and to achieve efficiency, it would be necessary to penetrate the labor process and force it to yield up its secrets. In order that effort be rationalized, the worker's skills had to be made explicit. In many cases, workers' perceptions of their own interests prevented them from articulating their know-how, but there was yet another involuntary barrier. These skills did not easily yield themselves to explication; they were embedded in the ways of the body, in the knacks and know-how of the craftworker.”

• Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 42. ISBN:0465032125.

• See Also:
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes/Know_How

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Keywords: Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Agenda_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Productivity_quotes Reason_quotes Efficiency_quotes Drudgery_quotes Mania_quotes Achievement_quotes Labor_quotes Process_quotes Secret_quotes Rational_quotes Worker_quotes Skill_quotes Explicit_quotes Perception_quotes Interest_quotes Articulation_quotes Involuntary_quotes Barrier_quotes Embedded_quotes Body_quotes Subconscious_quotes Mind_quotes Craft_quotes Taylorism_quotes Science_quotes Management_quotes Increase_quotes Streamline_quotes Factory_quotes Operation_quotes Cost_quotes Accounting_quotes Supervision_quotes Dull_quotes Job_quotes Shop_quotes Floor_quotes Penetrate_quotes Force_quotes Yield_quotes Case_quotes Prevent_quotes Know-how_quotes Explication_quotes Knack_quotes Craftworker_quotes

Education

“The cognitive demands of intellective skill suggest that computerization should be accompanied by a serious educational effort, if the information capacity of the technology is to be exploited.”

• Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 217. ISBN:0465032125.

• See Also:
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes/Education

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Keywords: Cognition_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Mind_quotes Skill_quotes Automation_quotes Computerization_quotes Education_quotes Effort_quotes Information_quotes Technology_quotes Exploitation_quotes

Computers Over People

“When managers express a preference for computers over people, the effects find their way into every corner of the worker's mind.”

• Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 268. ISBN:0465032125.

• See Also:
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes
  • Shoshana_Zuboff_quotes/Computers_Over_People

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Keywords: Management_quotes Preference_quotes People_quotes Computer_quotes Worker_quotes Mind_quotes Express_quotes Effect_quotes Find_quotes Way_quotes Corner_quotes

See Also

• Thinking_quotes