Quotes About Observation

We who draw do so not only to make something observed visible to others, but also to accompany something invisible to its incalculable destination.

Instead of attaching ourselves to the inner becoming of things, we place ourselves outside them in order to recompose their becoming artificially. We take snapshots, as it were, of the passing reality, and, as these are characteristic of the reality, we have only to string them on a becoming abstract, uniform and invisible, situated at the back of the apparatus of knowledge, in order to imitate what there is that is characteristic in this becoming itself.

And doth not this observation hold in the civil as well as natural world? Doth not power produce license, and license power? Do not whigs make tories, and tories whigs? Bigots make atheists, and atheists bigots?

The eye by long use comes to see even in the darkest cavern: and there is no subject so obscure but we may discern some glimpse of truth by long poring on it.

I have always observed, that a rake who is a minute philosopher, when grown old, becomes a sharper in business.

But the eyes of jealousy are very sharp, and Hera saw them.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.

I have learned the truth of the observation that the more one approaches great men the more one finds that they are men.

He believed that everything and everybody in the world was worthy of notice but this person beside him was something beyond that. To him her presence was as important as the world. And the stars around it. If she was an instance of the goodness in this world then passing through by her was miracle enough.

Then in an explosion of wings all the pigeons rose and took to the air. 'Why do they do that?' 'What?' 'The simultaneous thing. One goes, they all go.' 'They must be Catholics.

A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.

I am not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.

I'm not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.

Turkish drivers are maniacs.

I have often had the impression that, to penguins, man is just another penguin -different, less predictable, occasionally violent, but tolerable company when he sits still and minds his own business.

Parfois lorsque je me promène en été, je m'aperçois que j'ai failli marcher sur une espèce de mouche. Je la regarde mieux : c'est une reine fourmi. [...] Combien de cités furent ainsi anéanties, d'un simple coup d'essuie-glace sur une route d'été ?

Les fourmis présentent cette formidable opportunité de nous permettre de voir une société fonctionner, une société composée de plusieurs millions d'individus. C'est comme observer un monde. Il n'existe pas à ma connaissance de ville de plusieurs millions de lapins ou de souris...

She realized that knowing someone comes from money isn't the same as witnessing the extent of it in close proximity

from a child's perspective all adults are old and fat

she realized that knowing someone comes from money isn't the same as witnessing the extent of it in close proximity

I am always studying character. Everyone I meet is a new study.

To Harlan, New York City was as chaotic and thrilling as the three-ringed circus that came through Macon each spring. No matter which direction his head spun, there was something new and exciting to behold: white men with long beards and black hats as tall as chimney stacks; poor people begging for money; rich people walking white poodles tethered to long leather leads; blind people tapping walking sticks; fat people munching soft, salted pretzels; and middle-of-the-road people like themselves.

Om iets te zien moet je eerst iets kunnen herkennen. Zonder herkenning kun je alleen maar kijken. Dan glijdt de wereld spoorloos door je heen.