Illuminating Quotes - Page 5

• No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man; no other idea has so fruitfully stimulated his intellect; yet no other concept stands in greater need of clarification than that of the infinite.

  David Hilbert

  Men, Ideas, Needs

  "Über das Unendliche" ["On the Infinite"] (1925) address to der Westfälischen Mathematischen Gesellschaft in honour to the memory of Karl Weierstrass, as quoted in "Number The Language of Science" by Tobias Dantzig, 1930.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is often very illuminating...to ask yourself how you got at the facts on which you base your opinion. Who actually saw, heard, felt, counted, named the thing, about which you have an opinion?

  Walter Lippmann

  Saws, Facts, Opinion

  36 Copy quote

• Thrilling, illuminating, heart-pounding. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy reads like a crackling espionage novel and resonates as only the most compelling history can. Abbott brings to vivid life four extraordinary and audacious women, and runs glorious roughshod over all our traditional notions of the role of women in the Civil War.

  Megan Abbott

  Running, Liars, War

  7 Copy quote

• Our educational system is like an automobile which has strong rear lights, brightly illuminating the past. But looking forward things are barely discernible.

  Hermann Oberth

  Strong, Educational, Past

  14 Copy quote

• Just as entropy is a measure of disorganization, the information carried by a set of messages is a measure of organization. In fact, it is possible to interpret the information carried by a message as essentially the negative of its entropy, and the negative logarithm of its probability. That is, the more probable the message, the less information it gives. Cliches, for example, are less illuminating than great poems.

  Norbert Wiener

  Organization, Giving, Example

  Norbert Wiener (1988). “The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society”, p.21, Da Capo Press

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• After illuminating the work of Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Louise Bourgeois, Balthus, and other modern artists, Mieke Bal again demonstrates her extraordinary flair for cultural criticism in taking on the work of Doris Salcedo, exploring the philosophical and aesthetic stakes of this committed political art and the relation between beauty, violence, and memory. A tour de force.

  Jonathan Culler

  Art, Memories, Philosophical

  4 Copy quote

• The investigation of making is illuminating towards that moment rather than the other way around, a reversal of the way that I would approach making a painting before. I think that it gets to a richer illumination of the moment, which is what I was trying to do at the beginning but going about it a little backwards.

  Julie Mehretu

  Thinking, Illumination, Trying

  7 Copy quote

• ’The Art of the Brick’ exhibition is accessible because it engages the child in all of us while simultaneously illuminating sophisticated and complex concepts. Everyone can relate to the medium since it is a toy that many children have at home. But my goal with this exhibition when it first debuted in 2007 was to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before.

  Nathan Sawaya

  Art, Children, Home

  "The ‘Art of the Brick’ Is Coming to Boston". www.bostonmagazine.com. September 15, 2014.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Love is a magic ray emitted from the burning core of the soul and illuminating the surrounding earth. It enables us to perceive life as a beautiful dream between one awakening and another.

  Khalil Gibran

  Beautiful, Dream, Love Is

  Khalil Gibran, “Love Is A Magic Ray”

  87 Copy quote

  Show source

• He who devoutly strives to attain wisdom and is on his guard against the invisible powers, should pray that both natural discrimination - whose light is but limited - and the illuminating grace of the Spirit abide in him. The first by means of practice trains the flesh in virtue, the second illuminates the intellect so that it chooses above all else companionship with wisdom; and through wisdom it destroys the strongholds of evil and pulls down 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (II Cor. 10:5).

  Maximus the Confessor

  Christian, Self Esteem, Mean

  26 Copy quote

• Therefore, I reasoned that study of the cell cycle responsible for the reproduction of cells was important and might even be illuminating about the nature of life.

  Paul Nurse

  Cells, Important, Might

  7 Copy quote

• God works in mysterious ways. Things may look good outwardly, but there may be evil contained inside. Let no one be deluded by pride that he himself has conceived good ideas or done good deeds. If everything were as it seemed, the Prophet would not have cried out with such illuminated and illuminating perspicacity, Show me things as they are! You make things appear beautiful when in reality they are ugly; You make things appear ugly when in reality they are beautiful. Show us therefore each thing as it is lest we fall into a snare and be ever errant.

  Rumi

  Beautiful, Fall, Pride

  Jelaluddin Rumi (2005). “The Rumi Collection”, p.69, Shambhala Publications

  63 Copy quote

  Show source

• What happens when all the parts of childhood are soldered down, when the young no longer have the time or space to play in their family's garden, cycle home in the dark with the stars and moon illuminating their route, walk down through the woods to the river, lie on their backs on hot July days in the long grass, or watch cockleburs, lit by morning sun, like bumblees quivering on harp wires? What then?

  Richard Louv

  Nature, Morning, Stars

  Richard Louv (2013). “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”, p.81, Atlantic Books Ltd

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Lexicography is a chastening as well as an illuminating and fascinating art.

  Robert Burchfield

  Art, Wells, Fascinating

  4 Copy quote

• Behold thine immortal Self resurrected with Christ in the light of illumination, present in every soul, every flower, every atom!

  Paramahansa Yogananda

  Flower, Light, Self

  "Self-realization Magazine".

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Otter is the most brilliant mix of facts ancient and modern about the otter species and its vulnerability to man's seemingly insatiable need to hunt the poor animal for reasons other than survival. I am sure the book will help to ensure that the hunting of otters will never return to this country-and I hope other lands will follow this example . . . A fascinating and illuminating book.

  Virginia McKenna

  Country, Book, Hunting

  9 Copy quote

• Layer upon layer, Italy's storied past unfolds in Robert Kaster's captivating journey along the venerable Queen of Roads. I cannot imagine a more perfect guide to such a rich trove of ancient and modern memories. Illuminating, erudite, entertaining, and evocative.

  Adrienne Mayor

  Queens, Memories, Past

  8 Copy quote

• The soul is stronger than the ego. It lives to BE, and give. We are of one Light, illuminating ourselves and those whom we love.

  Michelle Cruz

  Light, Giving, Ego

  5 Copy quote

• We human beings build houses because we're alive but we write books because we're mortal. We live in groups because we're sociable but we read because we know we're alone. Reading offers a kind of companionship that takes no one's place but that no one can replace either. It offers no definitive explanation of our destiny but links us inextricably to life. Its tiny secret links remind us of how paradoxically happy we are to be alive while illuminating how tragically absurd life is.

  Daniel Pennac

  Book, Reading, Writing

  23 Copy quote

• We who have touched war have a duty to bring the truth about war to those who have not had a direct experience of it. We are the light at the tip of the candle. It is really hot, but it has the power of shining and illuminating. If we practice mindfulness, we will know how to look deeply into the nature of war and, with our insight, wake people up so that together we can avoid repeating the same horrors again and again.

  Nhat Hanh

  War, Light, Together We Can

  7 Copy quote

• It is time to browse through the precious books that have meant the most to you that you may rediscover illuminating phrases and sentences to light your pathway to the future.

  Wilferd Peterson

  Book, Light, Pathways

  4 Copy quote

• The teachings of Osho, in fact, encompass many religions, but he is not defined by any of them. He is an illuminating speaker on Zen, Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Christianity and ancient Greek philosophy... and also a prolific author.

  Nevill Drury

  Philosophy, Teaching, Buddhism

  6 Copy quote

• There is no surer or more illuminating way of reading a man's character, and perhaps a little of his past history, than by observing the contexts in which he prefers to use certain words.

  Owen Barfield

  Reading, Character, Past

  Owen Barfield (1954). “History in English Words by Owen Barfield”

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• In Britain, journalists often view comparisons with our society going back two, three, or seven centuries as more relevant than comparisons going back two, three, or seven decades. Drunkenness centuries ago is more illuminating than comparative sobriety 30 years ago. The distant past, selectively mined for evidence that justifies our current conduct, becomes more important than living memory.

  Anthony Daniels

  Memories, Past, Views

  "Selective Memory". www.city-journal.org. July 6, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• What is enthralling and illuminating about The Metaphysical Club is its portraits of individuals and their milieus. Menand is wonderfully deft at evoking a climate of ideas or a cultural sensibility, embodying it in a character, and moving his characters into and out of one another's lives. What might have been a jumble of intellectual movements and colorful minor figures (...) is instead a subtle weave of entertaining narrative and astute interpretation.

  George Scialabba

  Moving, Character, Ideas

  4 Copy quote