CURATED COLLECTION

The Pursuit of Knowledge

The best argument for learning is that it changes the shape of everything else you see.

29 quotes found

“
A good book doesn't just entertain; it reads you, revealing truths you already held.

—Juan VilloroNovelist, Journalist & Essayist

Contemporary ERA • Latin America

“
Leisure is the mother of philosophy.

—Thomas HobbesPhilosopher

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

—Henry David ThoreauWriter, Naturalist & Philosopher

Industrial Age ERA • North America

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A good traveller leaves no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.

—Francesco PetrarchScholar & Poet

Medieval ERA • Southern Europe

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Writing is an act of seeing. It is paying attention to the invisible details.

—Juan José SaerNovelist & Poet

Late Modern ERA • Latin America

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The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.

—Albert EinsteinPhysicist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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The secret to life is in the flavor, not the ingredients.

—Laura EsquivelNovelist

Late Modern ERA • Latin America

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The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.

—Sigmund FreudNeurologist & Psychoanalyst

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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True philosophy is found in the depths of our own nature and our human experience.

—Johann Gottfried HerderPhilosopher, Theologian & Critic

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

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The pleasure of a work of art is meant to be a preparation for the greater pleasure of life.

—Alain de BottonAuthor & Philosopher

Digital Age ERA • Western Europe

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A poem breathes, a quiet force, transforming air into resonant presence, pure being.

—Coral BrachoPoet

Late Modern ERA • Latin America

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Imagination is nothing but the memory of our sensations and experiences.

—Giambattista VicoPhilosopher

Enlightenment ERA • Southern Europe

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Silence, too, is a language. Sometimes, it speaks truths too profound for words.

—Goenawan MohamadPoet, Essayist & Intellectual

Late Modern ERA • Southeast Asia

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Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the whole universe.

—Thales of MiletusPhilosopher & Mathematician

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

—Mary OliverPoet

Digital Age ERA • North America

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There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

—William ShakespearePlaywright & Poet

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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Cogito, ergo sum.

—René DescartesPhilosopher & Mathematician

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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The world is a magnificent book, but you have to read it.

—Elif ShafakNovelist

Contemporary ERA • MENA

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To be a poet is to be a perpetual student, observing, learning, transforming the ordinary.

—Edith TiempoPoet & Writer

Post-War ERA • Southeast Asia

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The more I see, the less I know for sure.

—John LennonMusician & Activist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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