The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Samuel Johnson2 quotes
A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity. — Samuel Johnson · 1784Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. — Samuel Johnson · 1751Adam Smith1 quote
Wonder... And not any expectation of advantage from its discoveries, is the first principle which prompts mankind to the study of Philosophy, of that science which pretends to lay open the concealed connections that unite the various appearances of nature. — Adam Smith · 1790Alex Trebek1 quote
My life has been a quest for knowledge and understanding, and I am nowhere near having achieved that. And it doesn’t bother me in the least. — Alex Trebek · 2020Aristotle1 quote
All men by nature desire to know. — Aristotle · 322 BCCeline1 quote
But not knowing is not so bad. I mean, the point is to be looking, searching. To stay hungry, right? — Celine · 2013Charles Dickens1 quote
Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies. — Charles Dickens · 1860Confucius1 quote
I for my part am not one of those who have innate knowledge. I am simply one who loves the past and who is diligent in investigating it. — Confucius · 221 BCDjango1 quote
I'm curious what makes you so curious. — Django · 2012Edith Wharton1 quote
In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways. — Edith Wharton · 1934Francis Bacon1 quote
I have taken all knowledge to be my province. — Francis Bacon · 1591G.M. Trevelyan1 quote
Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization. — G.M. Trevelyan · 1942James R. Killian1 quote
It is useful to distinguish among four factors which give importance, urgency, and inevitability to the advancement of space technology. The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. — James R. Killian · 1958John Milton1 quote
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. — John Milton · 1644Petrarch1 quote
Today I climbed the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly called Ventosus (Windy). The only motive for my ascent was the wish to see what so great a height had to offer. — Petrarch · 1336Ptahhotep1 quote
Do not be arrogant because of your knowledge, but confer with the ignorant man as with the learned... Good speech is more hidden than malachite, yet it is found in the possession of women slaves at the millstones. — Ptahhotep · 2375 BCSherman Alexie1 quote
Censorship of any form punishes curiosity. — Sherman Alexie · 2012Socrates1 quote
Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. — Socrates · 400 BCSteve Jobs1 quote
Stay hungry, stay foolish. — Steve Jobs · 1974Steven Weinberg1 quote
The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy. — Steven Weinberg · 1977T.H. Huxley1 quote
For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to see them. — T.H. Huxley · 1868T.S. Eliot1 quote
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. — T.S. Eliot · 1942Thomas Hobbes1 quote
Curiosity...is a Lust of the mind. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651Xenophanes1 quote
The gods did not intimate all things to men straight away, but in time, through seeking, their discoveries improve. — Xenophanes