Seek simplicity but distrust it.

Quote by Alfred North Whitehead

Topics: Alfred North Whitehead Quotes

Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual...

Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual...

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery

Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.

Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.

When success turns a man's head he faces failure

When success turns a man's head he faces failure

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change.

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change.

Speech is human nature itself, with none of the artificiality of written language.

Speech is human nature itself, with none of the artificiality of written language.

Without adventure civilization is in full decay.

Without adventure civilization is in full decay.

The Day of Judgment is an important notion: but that Day is always with us

The Day of Judgment is an important notion: but that Day is always with us

Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe.

Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe.

Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose

Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose

Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its...

Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its...

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a...

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a...

Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded...

Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded...

Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct form ability, which is capacity to act wisely...

Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct form ability, which is capacity to act wisely...

The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, seek simplicity and...

The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, seek simplicity and...

In all education the main cause of failure is staleness.

In all education the main cause of failure is staleness.

Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination.

Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination.

Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.

Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.

Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a...

Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a...

That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a...

That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a...