The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
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.
Civilization2 quotes
I put forward as a general definition of civilization, that a civilized society is exhibiting the five qualities of Truth, Beauty, Adventure, Art, Peace. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1933Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Progress2 quotes
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle-they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Advance of civilization1 quote
Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Culture1 quote
A culture is in its finest flower before it begins to analyze itself. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1941Ideas1 quote
It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true…But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1933Mathematics1 quote
The science of Pure Mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1925Mindfulness1 quote
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle-they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Moral relativism1 quote
What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1941Moral theory1 quote
What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1941Morality1 quote
What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1941Nature of progress1 quote
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle-they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1911Philosophy1 quote
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1928Plato1 quote
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1928Rationalism1 quote
Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1928Reason1 quote
Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1928Religion1 quote
The religious vision, and its history of persistent expansion, is our one ground for optimism. Apart from it, human life is a flash of occasional enjoyments lighting up a mass of pain and misery, a bagatelle of transient experience. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1925Western philosophy1 quote
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1928Youth1 quote
The deepest definition of Youth is, Life as yet untouched by tragedy. — Alfred North Whitehead · 1933