Alfred North Whitehead Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Alfred North Whitehead quotes, Alfred North Whitehead sayings, and Alfred North Whitehead proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Let us grant that the pursuit of mathematics is a divine madness of the human spirit, a refuge from the goading urgency of contingent happenings. Alfred North Whitehead
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
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
Our habitual experience is a complex of failure and success in the enterprise of interpretation. If we desire a record of uninterpreted experience, we must ask a stone to record its autobiography. Alfred North Whitehead
Apart from blunt truth, our lives sink decadently amid the perfume of hints and suggestions. Alfred North Whitehead
The future belongs to those who can rise above the confines of the earth. Alfred North Whitehead
The task of a university is the creation of the future, so far as rational thought and civilized modes of appreciation can affect the issue. Alfred North Whitehead
The learned tradition is not concerned with truth, but with the learned adjustment of learned statements of antecedent learned people. Alfred North Whitehead
Intolerance is the besetting sin of moral fervour. Alfred North Whitehead
Seek simplicity but distrust it. Alfred North Whitehead
Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life. Alfred North Whitehead
Knowledge does not keep any better than fish. Alfred North Whitehead
The silly question is the first intimation of some totally new development. Alfred North Whitehead
Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge. Alfred North Whitehead
I would be a billionaire if I was looking to be a selfish boss. That's not me. Alfred North Whitehead
Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination. Alfred North Whitehead
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. Alfred North Whitehead
Let us grant that the pursuit of mathematics is a divine madness of the human spirit, a refuge from the groading urgency of contingent happenings. Alfred North Whitehead
Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its existing language. Alfred North Whitehead
A science that hesitates to forget its founders is lost. Alfred North Whitehead
Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. Alfred North Whitehead
Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose. Alfred North Whitehead
I think that our power of conscious origination is where free will comes in...We are originally choosing between the good and the less good, whether aware of it or not. Alfred North Whitehead
The factor in human life provocative of a noble discontent is the gradual emergence of a sense of criticism, founded upon appreciation of beauty. and of intellectual distinction, and of beauty. Alfred North Whitehead
It is a safe rule to apply that, when a mathematical or philosophical author writes with a misty profundity, he is talking nonsense. Alfred North Whitehead
In formal logic, a contradiction is a signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory. Alfred North Whitehead
Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. Alfred North Whitehead
It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. Alfred North Whitehead
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason. Alfred North Whitehead