Quotes by Knowledge To inquisitive minds like yours and mine the reflection that the quantity of human knowledge bears no proportion to the quantity of human ignorance must be in one view rather pleasing, viz., that though we are to live forever we may be continually amused and delighted with learning something new. Benjamin Franklin learningignoranceknowledge The most that any of us know, is the least of that which is to be known. Benjamin Whichcote knownknowsknowledge A society that fears knowledge is a society that fears itself. Bernard Beckett knowledge The dawn of knowledge is usually the false dawn. Bernard DeVoto dawnknowledge Behold a universe so immense that I am lost in it. I no longer know where I am. I am just nothing at all. Our world is terrifying in its insignificance. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle our-worldscienceknowledge I sometimes confuse myself with the little I know. Bernard Malamud littlessometimesknowledge What is all our knowledge worth? We do not even know what the weather will be tomorrow. Berthold Auerbach tomorrowweatherknowledge The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. Bertrand Russell parentinglearningknowledge There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. Bertrand Russell pleasureuselessknowledge All definite knowledge - so I should contend - belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man's Land, exposed to attack by both sides; this No Man's Land is philosophy. Bertrand Russell menphilosophyknowledge Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. Bertrand Russell imaginationscienceknowledge The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as a training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge from a purely utilitarian point of view as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom. Bertrand Russell viewsscienceknowledge The scientific attitude of mind involves a sweeping away of all other desires in the interest of the desire to know. Bertrand Russell attitudescienceknowledge I conclude that, while it is true that science cannot decide questions of value, that is because they cannot be intellectually decided at all, and lie outside the realm of truth and falsehood. Whatever knowledge is attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know. Bertrand Russell sciencelyingknowledge Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know. Bertrand Russell philosophyscienceknowledge I hold all knowledge that is concerned with things that actually exist - all that is commonly called Science - to be of very slight value compared to the knowledge which, like philosophy and mathematics, is concerned with ideal and eternal objects, and is freed from this miserable world which God has made. Bertrand Russell philosophyworldknowledge Gradually, ... the aspect of science as knowledge is being thrust into the background by the aspect of science as the power of manipulating nature. It is because science gives us the power of manipulating nature that it has more social importance than art. Science as the pursuit of truth is the equal, but not the superior, of art. Science as a technique, though it may have little intrinsic value, has a practical importance to which art cannot aspire. Bertrand Russell scienceknowledgeart What men really want is not knowledge but certainty. Bertrand Russell wantmenknowledge The significance of a fact is relative to [the general body of scientific] knowledge. To say that a fact is significant in science, is to say that it helps to establish or refute some general law; for science, though it starts from observation of the particular, is not concerned essentially with the particular, but with the general. A fact, in science, is not a mere fact, but an instance. In this the scientist differs from the artist, who, if he deigns to notice facts at all, is likely to notice them in all their particularity. Bertrand Russell scienceknowledgeart All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception at the top. Bertrand Russell perceptionscienceknowledge«7891011121314151617»
