28 Quotes by Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead was a British mathematician and philosopher who is known for his contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics. Born in 1861, Whitehead was a professor at the University of Cambridge and worked closely with Bertrand Russell to develop the Principia Mathematica, a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics. Whitehead’s later work focused on the philosophy of science, and he developed a metaphysical system known as process philosophy, which emphasizes the dynamic nature of reality and the importance of change and evolution. His ideas have had a lasting impact on both philosophy and mathematics, and continue to be studied and debated by scholars today. (Bio)
Alfred North Whitehead Quotes
Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the purpose of life is to grasp as much as we can out of that infinitude. (Meaning)
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. (Meaning)
There are no whole truths: All truths are half-truths.
Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.
Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.
We think in generalities, but we live in detail.
How the past perishes is how the future becomes.
It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious.
When you’re average, you’re just as close to the bottom as you are the top.
The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.
Everyone is a philosopher. Not everyone is good at it.
Thus the negative perception is the triumph of consciousness.
Vedanta is the most impressive metaphysics the human mind has conceived.
Fundamental progress has to do with the reinterpretation of basic ideas.
Great people plant trees they’ll never sit under.
The purpose of education is not to fill a vessel but to kindle a flame.
The ultimate metaphysical ground is the creative advance into novelty.
The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature.
Learning preserves the errors of the past as well as its wisdom.
Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure.
Each human being is a more complex structure than any social system to which he belongs.
The merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God’s earth.
Not a sentence or a word is independent of the circumstances under which it is uttered.
Religion is the reaction of human nature to its search for God.
The only use of knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present.
Error is the price we pay for progress.
In order to acquire learning, we must first shake ourselves free of it.
Religion increasingly is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.
― Alfred North Whitehead Quotes
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Tal Gur is an impact-driven creator at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 life goals around the globe. Tal's journey and recent book, The Art of Fully Living, inspired him to found Elevate Society.
