Alfred North Whitehead Quotes

Quotes about:

• The misconception which has haunted philosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of 'independent existence.' There is no such mode of existence; every entity is to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the universe.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Independent, Literature, Way

  Alfred North Whitehead (2014). “Science and Philosophy”, p.54, Open Road Media

  81 Copy quote

• Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Ignorance, Stupidity, Political

  79 Copy quote

• The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Inspirational, Change, Art

  Alfred North Whitehead, David Ray Griffin (1978). “Process and reality: an essay in cosmology”, Free Pr

  80 Copy quote

• The purpose of education is not to fill a vessel but to kindle a flame.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Flames, Purpose, Kindles

  11 Copy quote

• Great people plant trees they'll never sit under.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Wisdom, People, Tree

  12 Copy quote

• It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Obvious, Contemplating, Extraordinary

  21 Copy quote

• Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Philosophy, Done, Wonder

  Alfred North Whitehead (1968). “Modes of Thought”, p.168, Simon and Schuster

  61 Copy quote

• If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Dog, Cat, Animal

  Alfred North Whitehead, Lucien Price (2001). “Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead”, p.183, David R. Godine Publisher

  78 Copy quote

• No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Inspirational, Thank You, Wise

  83 Copy quote

• There are no whole truths: All truths are half-truths.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Truth, Lying, Half

  Dialogues prologue (1954)

  76 Copy quote

• The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Literature, Absence

  8 Copy quote

• Fundamental progress has to do with the reinterpretation of basic ideas.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Motivation, Ideas, Progress

  Alfred North Whitehead (2014). “Science and Philosophy”, p.142, Open Road Media

  12 Copy quote

• What we perceive as the present is the vivid fringe of memory tinged with anticipation.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Memories, Vivid, Anticipation

  8 Copy quote

• After you understand about the sun and the stars and the rotation of the earth, you may still miss the radiance of the sunset.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Stars, Attitude, Sunset

  9 Copy quote

• Ninety percent of our lives is governed by emotion.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Emotion, Life Is, Ninety

  "Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead" by Alfred North Whitehead, Lucien Price, Ch. 29, 1954.

  4 Copy quote

• Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Wisdom, Grows, Shrinks

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Aims of Education”, p.37, Simon and Schuster

  50 Copy quote

• We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Inspirational, Time, Educational

  Alfred North Whitehead (2014). “Science and Philosophy”, p.20, Open Road Media

  30 Copy quote

• An unflinching determination to take the whole evidence into account is the only method of preservation against the fluctuating extremes of fashionable opinion.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Determination, Opinion, Preservation

  Alfred North Whitehead (1997). “Science and the Modern World”, p.187, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• The worship of God is not a rule of safety - it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Adventure, Safety, Unattainable

  1925 Science and the Modern World.

  6 Copy quote

• The teleology of the Universe is directed to the production of Beauty... The type of Truth required for the final stretch of Beauty is a discovery and not a recapitulation... Apart from Beauty, Truth is neither good, nor bad... Truth matters because of beauty.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Beauty, Discovery, Matter

  7 Copy quote

• Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Dream, Dreamer, Fulfilled

  5 Copy quote

• The difference between ancients and moderns is that the ancients asked what have we experienced, and moderns asked what can we experience.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Differences, Experience

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Adventures of Ideas”, p.224, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Art, Patterns, Recognition

  Dialogues (1954) (entry for 10 June 1943)

  21 Copy quote

• Everyone is a philosopher. Not everyone is good at it.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Philosopher

  17 Copy quote

• Error is the price we pay for progress.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Errors, Progress, Pay

  "Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology". Book by Alfred North Whitehead, 1929.

  4 Copy quote

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