Quotes About Comprehension

Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted.

The beginnings of Algebra I found far more difficult, perhaps as a result of bad teaching, I was made to learn by heart: 'The square of the sum of two numbers is equal to the sum of their squares increased by twice their product.' I had not the vaguest idea what this meant, and when I could not remember the words, my tutor threw the book at my head, which did not stimulate my intellect in any way.

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something that he can understand.

The faculty of being acquainted with things other than itself is the main characteristic of a mind.

These two sentences suffice to show, as I shall try to prove, that Bergson does not know what number is, and has himself no clear idea of it.

Philosophic contemplation does not, in its widest survey, divide the universe into two hostile camps -- friends and foes, helpful and hostile, good and bad -- it views the whole impartially.

we can only infer it, and can never be directly and immediately aware of it.

compreender uma época ou uma nação devemos compreender sua filosofia e, para que compreendamos sua filosofia, temos de ser, até certo ponto, filósofos.

is clear that human knowledge must always be content to accept some terms as intelligible without definition

The intoxicating delight of sudden understanding.

The chief importance of knowledge by description is that it enables us to pass beyond the limits of our private experience. In spite of the fact that we can only know truths which are wholly composed of terms which we have experienced in acquaintance, we can yet have knowledge by description of things which we have never experienced.

There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." - Bertrand Russell

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." I'm not sure original definitions get much better than the one for understand in Luke 24:45. Meditate on this definition: "The comprehending activity of the mind denoted by suniemi entails the assembling of individual facts into an organized whole, as collecting the pieces of a puzzle and putting them together. The mind grasps concepts and sees the proper relationship between them.

When something is written for you or handed to you, sometimes there's a very interesting dance as you discover what it is that's required.

Reading papers and memorizing them doesn't make you a good researcher.

If the audience is made to do not enough work, they resent it without knowing it. Too much and they get lost. There's a perfect pace to be found. And a perfect place that is different for every line of the play.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.

If I'm in a political argument, I think I can, with reasonable accuracy and without boasting, put the other person's side of the case at least as well as they could. One has to be able to say that in any well-conducted argument.

Both sides of the game, defensively and offensively, are important.

There are two sides to every story, and sometimes three, four, and five.

I really am one of those people who are mixed on many issues and can see many legitimate sides.

Although I'm not fluent in sign language by a long way, I could have a fairly decent conversation.

If I don't have words, it's a sign I'm not reading enough.

Chimps can do all sorts of things we thought that only we could do - like tool-making and abstraction and generalisation. They can learn a language - sign language - and they can use the signs. But when you think of our intellects, even the brightest chimp looks like a very small child.