The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them. When the idea is new, its custodians have fervor, live for it, and if need be, die for it.

Quote by Alfred North Whitehead

Topics: Alfred North Whitehead Quotes

I would be a billionaire if I was looking to be a selfish boss. That's...

I would be a billionaire if I was looking to be a selfish boss. That's...

Every philosophy is tinged with the coloring of some secret imaginative background, which never emerges...

Every philosophy is tinged with the coloring of some secret imaginative background, which never emerges...

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...

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

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

A race preserves its vigor so long as it harbors a real contrast between what...

A race preserves its vigor so long as it harbors a real contrast between what...

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

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

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of...

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of...

Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best,...

Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best,...

Ideas won't keep; something must be done about them.

Ideas won't keep; something must be done about them.

We cannot think first and act afterward. From the moment of birth we are immersed...

We cannot think first and act afterward. From the moment of birth we are immersed...

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...

One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of...

One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of...

There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them...

There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them...

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 art of progress is to preserve order amid change.

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change.

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.

Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.

Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.

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

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

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise...

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise...