Quotes About Knowledge

What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking the colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road he is at a stand. Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force, and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub. (from a letter dated 25 May, 1694)

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding.

As a blind man has no idea of colors, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things

If I have done great things it's because I was standing in the closet of smart men taking notes and then publishing their ideas as my own.

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.

What we know is a drop. What we don't know is an ocean.

Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica veritas.

No old Men (excepting Dr. Wallis ) love Mathematicks.

Hypotheses non fingo (Latin for "I feign no hypotheses", "I frame no hypotheses", or "I contrive no hypotheses")

To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty, & leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of any thing.

If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. - From a letter to Robert Hooke dated February 5th, 1676. The metaphor was first recorded in 1159 by John of Salisbury and attributed to Bernard of Chartres: Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos, gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvenimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea.

If I had seen further than others, it's because I stood upon the shoulders of giants.

If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants

N?u tôi nhìn ???c xa h?n, ?y là vì tôi ??ng trên vai nh?ng ng??i kh?ng l?

Wenn ich weiter sehen konnte, so deshalb, weil ich auf den Schultern von Riesen stand.

Wenn ich weiter als andere gesehen habe, dann nur deshalb, weil ich auf der Schulter von Giganten stand.

N?u nh? tôi ?ã nhìn ???c xa h?n thì ?ó là b?i vì tôi ?ã ???c ??ng trên vai c?a nh?ng ng??i kh?ng l?

What we know is a drop. What we don't know is the ocean.

Do not expect to arrive at certainty in every subject which you pursue. There are a hundred things wherein we mortals. . . must be content with probability, where our best light and reasoning will reach no farther.

Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge.

You should therefore contrive and practice some proper methods to acquaint yourself with your own ignorance, and to impress your mind with a deep and painful sense of the low and imperfect degrees of your present knowledge, that you may be incited with labor and activity to pursue after greater measures.

No man is obliged to learn and know every thing; this can neither be sought nor required, for it is utterly impossible; yet all persons are under some obligation to improve their own understanding; otherwise it will be a barren desert, or a forest overgrown with weeds and brambles. Universal ignorance or infinite errors will overspread the mind which is utterly neglected and lies without any cultivation. Skill

Once a day....call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge.