Alfred North Whitehead Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Flames, Purpose, Kindles

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  79 Copy quote

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

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Ignorance, Stupidity, Political

  74 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

  8 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

  77 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.

  5 Copy quote

• It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Obvious, Contemplating, Extraordinary

  20 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

  6 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

  76 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

  11 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

  59 Copy quote

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

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Truth, Lying, Half

  Dialogues prologue (1954)

  75 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

  6 Copy quote

• The foundations of the world are to be found, not in the cognitive experience of conscious thought, but in the aesthetic experience of everyday life.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Beauty, Everyday, Foundation

  3 Copy quote

• Not a sentence or a word is independent of the circumstances under which it is uttered.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Independent, Conversation, Circumstances

  3 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

  80 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

  48 Copy quote

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

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Wisdom, People, Tree

  10 Copy quote

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

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Philosopher

  16 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

  28 Copy quote

• There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays to the devil.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Inspirational, Truth, Science

  Dialogues prologue (1954)

  8 Copy quote

• In a certain sense, everything is everywhere at all times. For every location involves an aspect of itself in every other location. Thus every spatio-temporal standpoint mirrors the world

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Mirrors, World, Location

  Alfred North Whitehead (1997). “Science and the Modern World”, p.91, Simon and Schuster

  7 Copy quote

• When you're average, you're just as close to the bottom as you are the top.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Average, Bottom

  18 Copy quote

• The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Perception, Foundation, Eternity

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Aims of Education”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

  16 Copy quote

• How the past perishes is how the future becomes.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Past

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Adventures of Ideas”, p.238, Simon and Schuster

  24 Copy quote

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