Quotes About Insight

To see what was unseen was to understand that blindness was always a matter of degree. To say that all men were blind in some respect—to the machinations of others, to themselves—was a truism scarcely worth noting. What was astounding was the way this truism perpetually escaped Men, the way they confused seeing mere slivers with seeing everything they needed to see.

Stupid men, Conphas had found, tended to be excessively proud of their few brilliant moments.

You understand little because to learn you must admit you know nothing.

to observe a thing always is to observe a thing not at all.

Always remember the words of Descartes: The reading of all good books is like conversion with the finest men of the past centuries.

I'm learning all the time. Well, you're a scholar.

There are three parts to learning: information, knowledge and wisdom. A mere accumulation of information is not knowledge, and a treasure of knowledge is not in itself, wisdom.

I must acquire my own information, build my own knowledge, and, through experience, transform it to the treasured gold of wisdom.

We're clear, she said. You're kind of a psycho. I get that

When I want to know your opinion, I'll consult your entrails.

Tota est scientia Knowledge is all

And knowledge is the purest form of power.

You have to schedule your epiphanies. And be patient.

You're the crazy whisperer!

Even here, you can ask the wrong questions and speak the wrong truths, Postulants. Here ends today's lesson. Tota est scientia.

The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries.

Tota est scientia.

Do not fall for things that feel right, and sound wrong. Understand?

I hate that I see the world through eyes you crafted.

Maybe Thomas had been right in his observation that geniuses and Obscurists had something in common.

Baldwin told the story again and again of standing on Broadway and being told by Delaney to look down. Delaney asked him what he saw, and Baldwin said a puddle. Delaney said, 'Look again,' and then Baldwin saw the reflections of the buildings, distorted and radiant in the oil on the puddle. He taught me to see, Baldwin said, and that 'what one cannot or will not see, says something about you.

Life is funny, baby, and that's no joke

Because I hadn't known that I knew these things. Just having a notebook to write them in, and having someone to write them to, made them all rise to the surface.

Nick is right, the Olsen twins do have a worrisome co-dependent relationship. I understand those bitches, though, I really do.