Observation Quotes

• Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Life, Science, Power

  "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, Book III, (11), (c. 161 - 180 AD).

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• To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

  Marilyn vos Savant

  Inspirational, Leadership, Wise

  "Courage: the heart and spirit of every woman : reclaiming the forgotten virtue". Book by Sandra Ford Walston, 2001.

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• It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.

  Henry Ford

  Inspirational, Motivational, Inspiring

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• If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.

  Robert Baden-Powell

  Inspirational, Listening, Marketing

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• Observation is like a muscle. It grows stronger with use and atrophies without use. Exercise your observation muscle and you will become a more powerful decoder of the world around you.

  Joe Navarro

  Powerful, Exercise, Stronger

  Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins (2009). “What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People”, p.9, Harper Collins

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• Observation, not old age, brings wisdom.

  Publilius Syrus

  Wisdom, Age, Old Age

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• It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit of life.

  Samuel Smiles

  Art, Perspective, Secret

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.100

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  There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

  Will Rogers

  Funny, Reading, Learning

  "The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers". "Friars Club Bible of Jokes, Pokes, Roasts, and Toasts". Book by Nina Colman, p. 316, 2001.

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• People's minds are changed through observation and not through argument.

  Will Rogers

  Business, People, Mind

  Will Rogers, Bryan B. Sterling, Frances N. Sterling (1993). “Will Rogers' World: America's Foremost Political Humorist Comments on the Twenties and Thirties--and Eighties and Nineties”, p.45, Rowman & Littlefield

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• But when we observe, we are forced to pay attention. We have to move from passive absorption to active awareness. We have to engage.

  Maria Konnikova

  Moving, Attention, Pay

  Maria Konnikova (2013). “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes”, p.9, Canongate Books

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• Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.

  Wallace Stevens

  Science, Thinking, Accuracy

  Wallace Stevens (2011). “Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose”, p.240, Vintage

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• Every man who observes vigilantly, and resolves steadfastly, grows unconsciously into genius.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Motivation, Men, Genius

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• There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Men, Good Man, Desire

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• Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it 'creative observation.' Creative viewing.

  William S. Burroughs

  Creativity, Artist, People

  "New York library buys personal archives of Naked Lunch author" by Dan Glaister, www.theguardian.com. March 1, 2006.

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• To learn by observation is traveling, people must also bring knowledge with them.

  Bayard Taylor

  People

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• The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself. It always goes hand in hand with the gift of observation.

  Igor Stravinsky

  Hands, Creating, Given

  Igor Stravinsky (1970). “Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons”, p.54, Harvard University Press

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• We cannot create observers by saying 'observe,' but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses.

  Maria Montessori

  Philosophy, Mean, Medicine

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• Those who cannot themselves observe can at least acquire the observation of others.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Acquire

  Benjamin Disraeli (1846). “Contarini Fleming: A Romance”, p.78

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• There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

  Denis Diderot

  Knowledge, Mean, Reflection

  Denis Diderot (1966). “Selected Writings”, New York : Macmillan

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• Observation - activity of both eyes and ears.

  Horace Mann

  Eye, Ears, Activity

  "Every Other Sunday Vol. 23" The Unitarian Sunday-School Society, (p. 19), 1907.

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• There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.

  William Osler

  Art, Men, Plain Language

  William Osler (1927). “Aequanimitas”, p.194, Ravenio Books

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• The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.

  Paul Cezanne

  Life, Beauty, Beautiful

  "The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook". Book by Dorothy Kalins and Michael Anthony (p.221), www.esquire.com. 2013.

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

  Louis Pasteur

  Past, Mind, Favors

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• Look slowly and hard at something subtle and small.

  Philip Pearlstein

  Looks, Subtle, Hard

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• Theories crumble, but good observations never fade.

  Harlow Shapley

  Astronomy, Theory, Cosmology

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