"I have suffered a great deal from writers who have quoted this or that sentence of mine either out of its context or in juxtaposition to some incongruous matter which quite distorted my meaning, or destroyed it altogether."
"In the study of ideas, it is necessary to remember that insistence on hard-headed clarity issues from sentimental feeling, as it were a mist, cloaking the perplexities of fact. Insistence on clarity at all costs is based on sheer superstition as to the mode in which human intelligence functions. Our reasonings grasp at straws for premises and float on gossamers for deductions."
8 likes
Source: Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Adventures of Ideas”, p.72, Simon and Schuster
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Alfred North Whitehead
"The misconception which has haunted philosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of 'independent existence.' There is no such mode of existence; every entity is to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the universe."
"No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude."
"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order."
"If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer."
"There are no whole truths: All truths are half-truths."